Sanctuary Within
by Voltage23
Summary: Life was hard... harder than you'd expect a regular Hyuuga to have. Problem with me was that I was no regular Hyuuga, I had something extra. Life was Hard... especially when you're half Hyuuga, Half Uchiha... I'm Hyuuga Hiatari [AUFutureFic]
1. Prelude

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Chapter Zero**__: Liberation_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 1,572_

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_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This story is mine, however. It takes place 9 years after the time skip. So this story will contain spoilers post-time skip.

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There was something calm yet eerie that night. It was the night those two last saw each other. I don't know exactly what happened that day; I wasn't even alive yet when it happened, just limited to what I was told. Although Grandfather has a way to twist and bend the truth, I decided to trust him that one time and not bother my mother about it.

Okay that's a bad beginning to what would normally be a crappy story. Although the Climax of this 'story' does take place at night, it didn't start there. The Rising Action, I suppose you could say, started that morning. I don't know what happened exactly, only my mother and father are said to know, but of course I would never want to burden my mother. As for my father… well let's just say I _can't_ burden him…

My father is dead… or so I'm told… You'd think that would get to an eight year old boy's head, but it doesn't surprise me in the least bit. It's probably because of what my grandfather tells me about him. I'm told he was a bad man. Sometimes I believe it; he left my mother who was carrying me without a word. Sometimes I don't believe it; my mother doesn't seem to be the type of woman to ever consider loving someone vile…

Well, He's dead and I'm alive… Whatever happened between my mother and father is between the two of them… or just my mom if he really has passed on… All I know is that my dad had friends… bad friends… and these friends aren't the kind of friends you hear most people have, bachelors who sleep with every woman they see. No, these guys never saw any women besides the ones they killed. Yeah, they were murderers; I guess I kind of left that out.

Aside from all that, two of my mom's friends eventually found her. Not saying that they were the only two, just the two that were sent to find her. My mom has 9 very good friends. But see, out of the two, there's this one guy who uses bugs that can track you and stuff and the other guy has a nose that can… well, let's say if I took a leak on a fire hydrant on the other side of town, he's be the first to know who wasn't in the immediate area. They eventually tracked her down and returned her home.

Yes that's it… that's all I was told… Sorry that's not as shocking as I thought I made it sound. Why would they have to bring her back home? No idea. How did my dad die? Grandfather says one of his friends killed him. Okay let me hold. He didn't say friend, he said associate, but isn't that the same? Cut me some slack, I'm eight, if it's not then oh well.

The only thing I know in exclusive is what one of my mom's friends told me. It went something like this.

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"Gatsuuga!"

"Waaugh!"

"Sir! We're under attack! You need to get back… What is… Bugs? Ahhhh!"

"_Hello? Hello? Aki? Answer me! Aki? Hel-_"

Clink.

"Well that's that…"

"This is such a waste! I can't smell her anywhere!"

"Relax… My Kikaichu are looking everywhere… it's only a matter of time now…"

The three figures stepped from the shadows.

One was dressed in a thick black jacket which had a high neck point which ended at what would normally be at your nose bridge and reached as far down as your knees. It was accompanied by a green overcoat, which had a hood he wore over his head. He wore black blocker glasses, so as not to allow his eyes to be seen. His pants were black, which were attached to holsters on his right leg that were hidden under his jacket. He had open toed boots, which were blue. He had some small bugs crawling on his face.

Another was wearing a thick blue jacket, which under he wore a seemingly netted shirt. His pants were almost the same, if not exactly like his companion's. He wore the same open toed boots, although they were brown. He had brown ruffled hair to which under he had a headband, which had a metal plate on it with a swirled design carved on it. He also had two red markings on his cheekbones. Next to him was… an exact twin of him, clothing and all. But wait. This figure immediately exploded in smoke and was replaced by a rather large white dog with brown ears.

Suddenly, the dog began to bark.

"Huh? What's wrong Akamaru? More Sound Ninja?" the second figure said

The dog barked in a different fashion.

"You found her!? Hey, Shino!"

"I'm right here, Kiba," the first spoke, "there's no need to yell…"

The dog, Akamaru, barked again and started running through the battered hallway, which was littered with bodies. All the people who were either dead or out cold were different, except for the fact they all wore a headband with a metal plate on it. The plate had a song note engraved on it.

"Let's go Shino!" Kiba said as he ran after his dog. Shino sighed and walked after his teammates.

When Shino caught up to the two they were in a hallway with many doors. Akamaru was sniffing at these doors, one by one, with Kiba sitting on him saying after each door, "Is she in there?" Shino extended out his arms and bugs came flying out as they reached each of the doors.

"Great Idea Shi-"

"I found her…"

"Bark, Bark!"

Shino walked over to a door and knocked, "Are you there… It's Me, Shino… Open up…"

No response.

"You don't think she's-"

"I don't know… Open this door…"

"What do I look like, a Thief!?"

"You're a Ninja…"

"Augh! No way! So are you! Why can't you open it!?"

"I wasn't trained to…"

"Fine, I'll break the Door!"

"Kiba, Be care-"

"Tsuuga!"

The door Crashed in and there was a bed with a figure on it. It turned over. It was a girl who had a thick Purple and white jacket. Her pants were identical to Kiba and Shino's in the regard that hers were purple instead and she had the same boots. She had purple hair that reached to her collarbone. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing calmly as she slept.

"She's there!" Kiba said as he ran inside. He grasped her shoulders and shook her lightly, "Hey, you alive… talk to me…"

She opened her eyes. Her eyes were white and she had no pupils. "Kiba-kun?"

"Hinata! You're okay!" He said, overjoyed as he hugged her tightly.

"Kiba-kun… Where… where am I…?" she said, confused.

Kiba let go of her and distanced himself from her slightly and sat down beside her as Shino approached the two. "You remember nothing?" Shino asked her.

"I… Wha… I remember…" she said to herself as she looked at nowhere in particular, clearly in wonder. She suddenly became wide eyed.

"You remember something?" Kiba asked her immediately.

"I saw them… both of them…" she said.

"Who? Hinata, who did you see?" Kiba asked.

"Orochimaru... and…-" she cut off as she looked at the floor.

"Don't worry Hinata, it's not your fault you couldn't handle them…" Kiba assured her as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Kiba-kun… Shino-kun… I have… to tell-"

"We need to leave…" Shino cut her off.

Kiba turned, "Why?"

"My Kikaichu bugs detect some more movement…" he answered.

"Well then," Kiba smirked, "we'll just blast our way out. Lets go Akamaru!"

Akamaru and Kiba ran out of the room as explosions were heard.

Shino got on a knee, "Are you sure you're all right, Hinata?"

"No… I'm… I'm…"

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That's about all I know. My mom was abducted. My dad happened to be there to. You'd think I'd have a great life… well when I'm next to my mom, sure, but when she's not around, my… family… makes my life hell. All because of who my parents are, too…

Who's my mom you ask? Why none other than the Hyuuga Hinata I mentioned earlier. I obviously have my mom's name, considering I stay with them. Its not like my dad has any family besides an uncle who's an even worse murderer and abductor than daddy's friends. Who's my dad you ask? Why none other than the illustrious missing S-rank Nin, the late Uchiha Sasuke…

Oh yeah. If my family wasn't uptight about keeping their blood pure, you must imagine on how much they feel about me… If I weren't the Heiress's son, and instead a Branch member of the Hyuuga's child, I wouldn't have even seen light. That's right, instant abortion.

Who am _I_ you ask? Well, I am none other than Hyuuga Hiatari, Son of the Hyuuga Heiress. Despite being the son of a living princess, my family tries to kill me… Okay they don't send assassins, but they kick me down… Okay they don't kick me down, per-se, they belittle me. The only people that actually treat me like family are my Mom, a guy who my Mom gets all twitchy about, Uzumaki Naruto, My second cousin, Hyuuga Neji, and sometimes my Grandfather, Hyuuga Hiashi

Well here I am, in my bed, barely waking up… Let's see if I survive today… Kami be with me…

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_**Author's Notes:**__ (Now to be referred to as __**"A/N:"**__ and are subject to appear whenever, not just at the end of the story) Alright this is my second fan fiction. My first one, for anyone who saw it (more than _unlikely_) is now on Hiatus. I don't plan to abandon it because I really like what I brainstormed for it. I kind of put it on Hiatus because It was getting no reviews (literally) and had no hits (_almost_ literally) so I started up this story. Also an OC story, but more Involved. Its basically a Future Fic, as you can see. I hope this was a good Prequel. And I hope you enjoyed it._


	2. Arc One: Chapter 1

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter One**__: Enrollment_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 5,016 _

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**__ 6,588__** \ R****eviews:**__ 2__** \ Fa****vo****rited:**__ 1__**\ Aler****ted:**__ 1_

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_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. If I did, the story would have had Hinata involved a lot more in part 2, as well as Itachi being much stronger… even though he's badass enough already, but you can never be too badass unless all you are is a pure badass-ness entity… Right! Story!

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You could hear the birds chirping. Sunlight rays entered the room and landed right onto my bed. They were disturbing, but I had grown used to it. I think those old guys (great grandfathers?) convinced grandfather not to get curtains for my window… Everything's all conspiracies with them…

"Hiatari-kun…" I heard a soft and solemn feminine voice. Every member of my clan tries to wake me up, key word being 'tries.' It's not that I sleep like a rock, more like I don't get up for them. I guess that's one of the reasons they have Cousin Neji or my Mom wake me up instead once they get tired of knocking at my door and calling my name.

"I'm getting up… I'm getting up…" I called out to my mom.

"Faster. Get up now Hiatari-kun, today is important…" she retorted.

(Important? I wonder what she means by that… oh well.) I rose from my bed and grabbed my robes and walked into my bathroom. Yeah, most of our rooms have their own bathrooms. I usually wore plain tan robes. Well, you can't really call it a robe, more like a trench coat that lacks the jubilee of pockets, doesn't reach the floor entirely, and is made of soft material. Under which I wore formal pants… always formal pants… I wish I could wear something like my mom wears. I put it on over my boxers (yes, I sleep in boxers alone) and looked at myself I the mirror.

There I was, me with my long straight hair that reached to my shoulder blades. It was colored a natural mix between raven blue and purple, nothing fantastic. Oh wait… you're wondering how else I'm an Uchiha/Hyuuga hybrid. Okay get this. My sclera is white as normal. My Iris is black. (Okay, more like onyx.) Funny thing about my eyes, I have no pupils… or maybe I do and you just can't see them…? Doctors can't really tell, but 6 out of 10 of them say I have no pupils. I don't know if that was a kiss ass effort meant for the Hyuuga or if that was their honest diagnostic. I still like to think I don't have pupils though… It makes feel freaky…

I sighed and brushed my hair neatly down opened the door to the bathroom. I got tired of looking at myself everyday in that mirror. I suddenly felt like cutting my hair, but screw that, I like the way it feels on my head. I opened the door to my room and looked at my waiting mother who stood two feet higher than me. This was a strange sight. Not because she was taller, I was used to that, but because she was dressed in a very formal kimono, instead of her thick jacket.

"Hmm?" I said to her as I looked up to her white eyes.

"My, Hiatari-kun, don't tell me you have forgotten…" she said, almost sounding upset and sad at the same time.

I sighed and took in a large breath. I usually only do that when I'm going to give a quick speech or lecture. "Mom… One, I don't like it when you call me kun… it makes me feel like we're dating; and I know all Hyuuga are related, but I, for one, am just not into incest of any kind… Two, I apologize for saying that, I kind of barely woke up, I'm slightly cranky, and three… forgot what?"

She smiled and put a hand on her chin as she giggled lightly. "That's okay, but see I'm your mother, just accept that I call you what I see fit. Besides, you misunderstand the meaning of simple suffixes. I find it strange that you clearly understand the complicated ones. And as for today, two things important are happening..." She slowly got quieter as she finished the last part.

"Wha- What's wrong?"

"Ah! Nothing! Um… Its okay, trust me." She said, quickly twitching.

Great… She's twitching… Wait… She's twitching! Yes! I get to see Naruto-niichan! Okay… Okay… remain cool and collect… "Ahem, so what's happening today?"

"Oh yes, Today is your birthday, silly…" she smiled.

My god… I forgot my own birthday… My birthday is the only day my clan treats me on equal status… I completely forgot I turned eight today! That's important alright, but… "Hey, mom… what else is happening today?"

"Oh… Ye-yes… Ha-Ha-Ha-" great… the stuttering… glad it's not hereditary… "Hanabi is… is grad-graduating to… j-jonin status today…"

"Hmm?" Okay I'm confused… I just won't question it. I just think-

"Ah!" my mom called out, "We're late! Come on, Hiatari-kun!" she grasped my hand and quickly started running through the wooden floor of our household.

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We made our way to the Hokage Tower. We seated ourselves next to Grandfather Hiashi. Neji soon arrived afterward, wearing his usual robe-like getup. I guess he assumed it was formal enough. Neji was a branch member who once hated the main family, but he shows great sympathy towards me. He sat next to me, effectively sandwiching me between him and my mom. I didn't mind, I felt safe.

I took a look at the Hokage Monumental Mountain behind the Hokage Tower and observed each one.

Face one, the Shodaime. He was the founding Hokage, the start of this Village, and the one who was able to match equally with the one and only, Uchiha Madara at the Valley of the End. (_**A/N:**__ I am an avid believer that the statues there were indeed the Shodaime and Madara_) If only he could be here to see what his greatness has accomplished. Masashi-dono…

Face two, the Nidaime and an excellent suiton user, brother to the Shodaime and the Hokage who did so much for us during the war. I don't know what else to say… Seishi-dono… (_**A/N:**__ I also believe that Kishimoto based the first two Hokages on himself and his brother._)

Face three, the Sandaime. A man who devoted his life to saving this village and took over the office once his successor died. He is the greatest Hokage in my eyes, even though I never saw the man. I wonder what he would think of me. I have heard so much of him from niichan so I don't know... I wish I had seen him in person at least once… Sarutobi-sama…

Face four, the Yondaime. Completely unknown to me other than he was the legendary shinobi who sealed away a terrible demon at the cost of his own life, truly noble. I don't know what else to say about this man…

Face five, the Godaime. The greatest medical person I have ever seen in my life. She has done so much for the village when it needed her most. She will always be a special part of this village, and a large influence to most of those who were around during her reign. Tsunade-sama…

Ah yes, Face six, the Rokudaime. A person who was so mysterious, someone I would have never known anything about if it weren't for niichan again. His reign started last year so I don't know what to say about him… He seems to laid back to be Hokage; I often don't view him with respect… Hakate Kakashi…

"Look, Hiatari," My mother said, distracting me as I looked at the mountain faces, "its Tsunade-sama." I turned to look at the podium in front of us all and there she was. It was hard for me to believe someone like her was actually 62 years old… She didn't look a day over 35!

"Everyone," she said with her loud, booming voice which sometimes made me yearn for a restroom, "I present… The Sixth Hokage!"

People began to clap, me included. I may not respect the guy, but I will, as always, be a gentleman in front of my grandfather. We eagerly awaited the Hokage to walk through the doors, but he didn't. I turned to my mother, "Where's Kakashi?"

She turned to me, "Na-Naruto tells me that he is l-late to things mo-ost of the time…"

"What?" I silently screamed, "But he's the one who said 'don't be late' to everyone!"

The man slowly came from the tower main door. He had never once worn his Hokage robe, instead dawning his occasional Jonin outfit and that mask. The only thing 'Hokage' about him was the fire hat he was wearing, and even then he had it cocked to the side, which made his left eye invisible. The one thing that annoyed me the most… He had that annoying blue book with him… Why the Hokage would need to read a perverted book like "Icha Icha Utopia," as it was titled, was beyond me… I wonder who the author is…

"_Achoo!_ Sorry…" I heard a familiar voice.

Kakashi pocketed the book and then preceded to the podium, "Thank you, Tsunade-sama"

"Please," she said, "I no longer am greater than you… You need not call me that…"

"Fine then, Tsunade-hime…" he retorted, obviously smiling behind that mask of his as he closed his visible eye in, I suppose, joy.

Tsunade giggled in a way that showed she was annoyed and nervous at the same time and she slowly backed away and sat down near the front.

"Okay people…" (Of all ways to start, he starts like that… What is wrong with him!?) "We gathered here today to congratulate those who have graduated to the next status of our military force. First off, I'd like to start with the ANBU squads, for they will be shortest."

The people standing behind Kakashi freaked me out as they stood still as statues, save for some slight movements from those who were about twelve years old. "Those names I call, please come up to me. Now, those being promoted to ANBU status are as follows; Nara Shikamaru."

A man with a Pineapple hairstyle, jonin outfit, and a lit cigarette in his mouth walked up to Kakashi, put out his cigarette, and merely said, "Tch, how troublesome…"

"Now, now, Shikamaru," Kakashi started, "This is a great honor for you, you're now an ANBU captain…" The pineapple guy sighed and said, "Why did I know you were going to say that…"

"Because you're smart…" Kakashi replied, nonchalantly.

Shikamaru stood on the other side of Kakashi in the mirrored position he was just in. Kakashi put his hands on the podium once again, "Haruno Sakura."

Pretty much all the same…

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"And then I was like, 'ODAMA RASENGAN!' and then he like blew away and landed in a crater!"

"Heh… Naruto-niichan, you're so imaginative" I said.

"Bah! Imaginative!?" a blonde, blue eyed man wearing orange and black and had the strangest whisker marks on his cheeks said to me, "I'll have you know all my stories are real!"

"Haha!" I couldn't help but laugh as I slurped up some more of my miso ramen.

Naruto himself finished his eighteenth bowl, saying, "But it's true! True I say!"

"Oh, really? Then what happened afterward? Huh?" I asked. He had been telling me how he had saved the Godaime Kazekage from my Uncle's vicious friends.

"Well… It turned out that it wasn't your uncle, but a guy wearing a cloned face of your uncle… I think…" he said it a serious but stupefied tone.

That does it. "Hahahahahahaha! You're such a bad liar, Niichan!"

"No, No! It's true! I swear! Every word! It's all true!" he protested.

I had become silent, for I had been thinking about the Rokudaime Hokage. "Did you say that Kakashi has the Sharingan?"

He coughed up some ramen into his bowl before coughing slightly and turning to me, "What's this all of a sudden?"

"Well…" I said, looking down. I lost my appetite and just looked at my full, fourth ramen bowl, "Since My Uncle is Evil, and no doubt wouldn't hesitate to do away with his brother's offspring… and since my dad himself is dead, I wa-"

Naruto quickly turned and nearly yelled, "Sasuke isn't dead."

"Then why isn't he here, with me and mom!?" I yelled at him, at the brink of tears.

He looked down, and pushed away his full, twenty first, ramen bowl, apparently also losing his appetite. "It's… complicated…"

"Why!? Why is it complicated!? Is he dead or is he alive!? How is that complicated!? It's one or the other! Tell me! Please Naruto! Is my dad alive or not!?" I shot at him, visibly crying. Never once had I thought about the one known as Uchiha Sasuke, it never really mattered to me. But seeing the Hokage… It just made me think that perhaps Kakashi and Sasuke were really close… or really similar… I suddenly wanted to know _everything_, and I wouldn't stop until I did.

"Sasuke's body is more than likely living… But," he paused, visibly quivering, "His mind and soul are as good as dead by now…"

I couldn't believe it. Bodies are unique. The body is linked with the soul and personality; nothing can sever that bond… Nothing! How is it possible? "How…?" I asked.

"There…" Naruto obviously had trouble summarizing this to me of all people; he not only had to be gentle, he had to find easy, non-complex, words so that I could understand, "are some bad men out there… Some of them have ambitions that are worse than others…" he stopped for a while, realizing he made a reference to my uncle, "but some of those others will do the most horrendous things to achieve _their_ ambitions… even if it means making a man into a shell they may use freely…"

"So someone is hypnotizing my dad? Why can't you just kill the guy!? It should be easy if you can stand up to my uncle, who is apparently the greatest warrior ever!" I said, clearly not understanding what Naruto was trying to tell me.

He sighed, "I'm sorry… It's not as simple as that… I don't know what I could tell you to ease your mi-"

"Name…"

"Huh?"

I looked at him, clearly showing my hate for…everything; as it seemed for me at the moment. "I want to know this man's name…"

Naruto looked at me with a sad smile, "His name is… Orochimaru… and he was my sensei's best friend before he betrayed him… Orochimaru took away two of my greatest bonds, my best friend, and nearly brother, and my sensei, nearly an uncle… an ero-baka of an uncle… but an uncle nonetheless…"

I looked at him, suddenly regretting I had asked, but I could not just shut up. "Orochimaru was the man who killed Jiraiya-sama no more that two years ago?" I asked him. I knew Jiraiya… he was what I could probably call Naruto and Tsunade's best friend. He was a great man, to which I questioned to myself on why _he_ was never Hokage. I went to his funeral, and everyone was so sad. His death was a mystery to us, as they only told us of his accomplishments, but now I knew.

Naruto nodded slowly. "Don't worry though," he assured me, "your father, while he was still with us, was a great ma-" he paused. He blank a few times. I opened my mouth, about to ask why he stopped, before he resumed, "okay not a _man_ per-se… He was a great person… He was a good boy… You would have never expected he would defect the village on purpose… after all… _I_ didn't suspect it… Even though we were like brothers to each other. I'm just… so saddened… that I wasn't able to… to stop him… If only I had been stronger… You'd probably be happier… we all would..."

I looked down and smiled. I laughed. Naruto turned to me as if I was insane, but then I looked at him, "If you had stopped him, Little Old Me would have never been born… right?"

Naruto stared before showing that he remembered something and then chuckled, "I guess you're right… You would have still been born, I hope, but you wouldn't have the same…" he paused. Okay, I may be eight, but I know how babies are made… (Although, like him, I was confused... I may have still been born… but would I have been born on the Uchiha side, or the Hyuuga side? I mean… sperm is sperm and an egg is an egg… but… oh well.) We just decided to shut up about it. It was just too damn confusing.

We stayed in silence as, miraculously, our appetites came back and we continued to eat our ramen before us. I never really understood Naruto. He must have a high metabolism because he consumes waaaaay too much for him to not be fat…

Eventually he stopped and looked, "Hey, why'd you wanna know about Kakashi?"

I suddenly remembered, "I wanted to know if he could tell me things about the Sharingan." I answered with my mouth full of noodles

He looked at me and cocked his head to the left, "Why?"

I sighed, "Well… I'm eight… and I _still_ can't use the Byakugan… I seriously doubt I even have it… So maybe I have the Sharingan… So I wondered if he could tell me how I could activate it…"

Naruto smiled at me, "What if you have both, and you just don't realize it?"

"That would be awesome!"

"You bet it would, with that potential, you could be even greater than yours truly!" he said with his cocky voice as he pointed his thumb at himself. He laughed and said, "I'm sure Kakashi could even help you learn everything there is to know about it."

"No way!" I shouted, not like I was angry, but like if it was more in a way like I wouldn't want to, "I don't like him! In my opinion, You should have been Hokage, not him!"

Naruto smiled, "Well, Hiatari, while it is my dream to be Hokage, I'm afraid there's a chance I may never be it."

"You wanna be Hokage?"

"I wanted to," he said, "and I still do. It's just… I've realized something… I wanted to be Hokage because people didn't care or acknowledge me. If I was Hokage, they would. That was the selfish goal of my dream. The main reason I wanted to be Hokage was because I wanted to have the power to protect those I care about… But I've realized that I don't need to be Hokage for people to accept me. People accept me now! And I _already_ have the power to protect those I care about; Sakura-chan, Tsunade-obaachan, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, and, of course, you!"

I smiled, "Thanks niichan…"

He grinned his fox grin, "Hehe, no problem!"

"Wait…" then, it _barely _registered in my head. "Kakashi-_sensei_!? That guy was your _sensei_!?"

He slurped up his twenty eighth ramen bowl up, "Oh yea! He's the greatest! He's been there for me and Sasuke through most, if not all, our bad times when we needed him! He was our Jonin instructor! "

"Sasuke and I…" I said blankly.

"What?"

I sighed, "Nevermind, go on…"

"Okay!" he said, overjoyed that I wanted to listen to more of what he had to say, "Well it's because of him that I'm so strong a-"

"I thought that was because of Jiraiya-sama…"

"Okaaaay…" he paused, thinking of a way to rephrase his explanation. He then lit up and clapped, "Then it's because of Kakashi-sensei that I was able to _harness_ that strength and give me my," he paused as he got up from his chair and placed a foot on his chair and punched his fist into the air, "Signature Move; The Futon Rasengan!"

"_Futon_ Rasengan? What's that?" I asked, interested.

"Oh," he said, smiling an evil grin that could have probably put hell spawns to shame. If I wasn't mistaken, babies began to cry all throughout Konohagakure no Sato, "it's a killer!"

I smiled. He grinned his regular fox grin. He then looked outside and quickly fell over, "Baaah! It's late! I have to get you home!"

Out of the blue, he rushed out a strange green frog and opened its mouth as he dumped _money_ from its mouth. He grabbed my hand and ran outside, yelling, "Keep the change, Ayame-san!"

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"Eheheheheh… sorry for keeping him late, Hinata" he said, scratching the back of his blonde head with his right hand, holding my hand with his left.

My mom looked at him, her hands in front of her chest, trembling, "Ih-ih-ih-its n-n-nuh-nuh-n-no puh-puh-problem… Na-na-Naruto-k-k-kun…" Her face was completely red. Not the kind of red someone gets when they _usually _blush, which is what she was doing. No, she was red like a pale mainlander from the west got angry and all the blood rushed to their head. If I wasn't mistaken, she had steam coming from her ears. (Does my mom like Naruto a lot or is she just naturally embarrassed around him? I don't know, but I won't ask either of them. My mom would just get all twitchy and end up not answering me, and Naruto obviously wouldn't know, considering _he_ asks _me_ why she does that when he's around her.)

"Yeah well, Good night Hiatari, good night Hinata." He said, releasing me from his grip.

I walked to my mom and hugged her right hip. She was still twitching uncontrollably, "Goo-goo-guh-good na-na-night… Nar-aruto-ku-kun…" She must have been _really_ struggling just to speak to him.

Naruto smiled, waved, and put his hands in front of him, "Shunshin no Jutsu!" and with that, he disappeared, vanished as if he teleported off to another world… (I soooooo wanted to learn that!)

My mom's knees began trembling so badly, she fell to them, nearly bringing me down with her. I looked at her, staring, as she slowly regained her color. I was just about to open my mouth to ask her if she was okay before she cut me off, "L-l-l-lets go inside… He-Hiatari-kun…"

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"Hiatari-sama! Wake up… I have urgent news!"

Damn it… Who's pounding on my door!? They say that the Hyuuga are geniuses… don't they realize they can just open my door if they really wanted to!? Seriously, Damn! Its not like my door is ever locked, and if it was, they have keys! I don't know why they ask me permission if they hate me so much!

_Creak_

Are they mind-readers? I turned over to look at who opened the door. It was Neji.

"Hiatari-sama, rise from your bed now, Hiashi-sama wants to speak with you… I take my leave" he finished by bowing and walking out as closing my door again.

Why was he being so formal? Oh well, might as well get up. I grabbed my robes, went into the bathroom, and came out in about thirty minutes as my hair was much more tangled that usual. I hate it when Naruto ruffles it up…

I walked out the door and into the hallway, eventually making my way past the sparing box, as I called it. It was an area, smack dab in the middle of the Hyuuga compound, which was a perfect square, about 64 meters in area. Hiashi usually used this to train Neji with the main house's secret techniques, something that was illegal to do before I was born.

Aunt Hanabi was in there, she was practicing the Kaiten. I guess she never faltered when it came to training herself, especially since Naruto was no longer her sensei. After all, pretty soon, she too would be a sensei to three students. I walked past her, after bowing to her as she nodded in approval.

Out of the whole Hyuuga family, branch and main, Aunt Hanabi was the one who never showed hate to me, but then again never really acknowledged me. It's like I was just there and she was just there, and she figured whatever she felt for me wouldn't change anything, so life moved on. Even though she ignored me, I was thankful she never tried to put me down once.

I finally reached the main hallway and entered the Hyuuga meeting room. Grandfather Hiashi was usually in here, and there he was, waiting for me. Although I questioned on why the only people in the room were Neji and Mom, usually there are the really old guys who claw at me whenever they see a chance to.

"Hiatari, you may sit…" he told me, having his palm out to the cushion in front of him.

"R-really?" I asked. My mom and Neji were standing. We all knew that only important people were allowed to sit in the center. Either they were being recognized, or tried for a crime they did. I'm eight, I did no crime. At least I assumed so, considering Neji (which was rare) and my mom were smiling at me.

"Go ahead…" Grandfather said. I walked up to it and sat down. (My god its soft!)

"Hiatari, Your mother has approved of the idea after Neji had asked about it, to which I finally gave into approving." He said. I listened intently, this sounded important, "You are to attend the Ninja Academy. A year from now, you will be privately tutored by Neji in all the Hyuuga clan skills you can learn."

I smiled, not believing his words, "You're joking… right? There's no way those old gu- The High Members would allow me to bec-"

"They will know nothing of this…" Hiashi told me. I looked shocked. "If they ask you where you go, tell them that you are with Neji. Do not allow yourself to be followed; I trust you at the expense of myself."

I quickly shot up out of the cushion and ran at him. Right before reaching to him, I skid on the wood and quickly got on all fours, bowing so low that my forehead was touching the ground. "Thank you grandfather, I won't let you down, I swear!"

He chuckled and told me to rise, so I merely settled upward, but kept on the floor sitting with my legs bent back. "Do the Hyuuga clan proud…" he said sincerely.

I smiled, "Yes, Hiashi-sama!"

He was taken aback, but quickly regained his composure, "Please, do not call me that… It makes me feel older that my grandson addresses me with sama instead of grandfather…"

"Sorry Hia- Grandfather!" I said, bowing again.

He chuckled again and dismissed me.

Oh yes… I'm going to be a Ninja… I can't wait!

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"Seriously!? That's so cool!" Naruto blurted out.

"Congratulations, you deserve the opportunity." A female's voice said. She was wearing a mask of a cat with armor that covered much of everything except her shoulders. On her right shoulder she had a swirling like tattoo. She also had the strangest thing I thought… she had pink hair…

I smiled, not knowing who she was, but being a gentleman in front of Naruto's guest, I said "Thank you, neechan." She wasn't my sister, but she was older than me. It was only respectful that I call her that to show that I respect her, considering I don't know her name, and thus, cannot use 'san.'

She took off her mask and smiled at me. (Wow… Forehead...) "Wait… weren't you at the ceremony? Aren't you Haruno-san?"

Naruto laughed and she quickly turned. She must have given him a scary look, for he quickly jumped up dramatically and began to sweat as he shut up instantly. She turned back to me smiling, "Please, call me Sakura."

I smiled, "Right, sorry Sakura-san…"

"You're such a nice boy, I'm sorry I never met you earlier…"

It's true, although I had seen her with Naruto before, never once had I spoken to her before. "It's quite all right, Sakura-san"

"Hey," Naruto said, "Sakura-chan, are you going on a mission or what? You're wearing your ANBU getup… isn't that like… bad, considering we're not ANBU ourselves?"

She looked at him, "First off, Naruto, He's a kid, so it doesn't matter much!" (Oh, really? A kid, that's all I am?) She turned to me quickly, "no offense." (Well at least she apologized… sort of…) "Second, you were once ANBU yourself, so it doesn't matter either!"

He put his hands up in withdrawal, "Sorry Sakura-chan, just making sure you're on your toes…"

She gave him a 'hmph' and said, "Like I said… you _were_ an ANBU… you have no right to test me, Jonin!"

"Hey… Sakura-chaaaan! You're just a Chunin!" he said. (Somehow, I think he shouldn't have said that…)

She quickly punched him over the top of the head, effectively sending him to the floor and crashing his face with the dirt floor. She held her fist, which had smoke coming from it, in front of her, shaking violently, "Don't think you're so superior!"

He quickly got up and rubbed the rather large bump on his head, "Saaaakura-chaaaaaan! I didn't say I was! Please forgive me!" he said, clasping his hands together as if in prayer. I couldn't help but giggle.

Sakura turned to my direction, "Well anyway, I have to go." She walked up to me and pinched my chin, "Do good, or I'll pound you into the floor…okay?"

(Scaaaaaaaary!) "Y-Yes ma'm, uh, Sakura-san!"

She smiled as she put on her mask and she jumped clearly over the Konoha wall. (She must have strong legs!)

"Hey… Naruto…" I said (unable to call him my older brother because he was beat down by a girl), "Who is she?"

"That's Haruno Sakura; she was on the same team as your dad and me, with Kakashi of course. Oh, and speaking of Kakashi, tomorrow after your first day at the academy, he wants you to go to the Hokage Tower to see him."

"The Hokage wants to see me?" I may not like the guy, but it's still an honor if the Hokage asked for me personally.

"Yeah, oh and a hint for the academy… practice your bunshins…"

"Bunshins?"

"You'll find out soon enough… Hey, I'd better get you home."

"Okay!"

He grabbed my hand and we walked back to the Hyuuga compound. My life seems to be picking up now!

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_**A/N:**__ Alright, Official Chapter 1, I hope you guys like it! I hope it's not confusing if anyway, if it is, I'll be glad to clear it up so long as I don't spoil my story… Anyway, again, I hoped you enjoyed it._


	3. Arc One: Chapter 2

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter Two**__: Day of Expectations_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 4,782_

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**__ 11,370 __**\ Reviews:**__ 2__** \ Favorited:**__ 1__** \ Alerted:**__ 2_

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_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Although if an unexpected accident happens to him, I will be glad to pick up where he left off!

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"Yaaaaaaaawn"

I rose out of my bed and opened my eyes. "Augh! It burns!" I screamed as I fell over my bed as my face collided with the hard wood floor. I was knocked out…

It took me about five minutes to come to. At first, I was pissed; I wanted curtains, badly. Then I was sad; my face hurts! Then, I was concerned; nobody tried to wake me up yet… Finally, I was excited; today was the first day I would be going to the Ninja academy. I quickly got up and ran to my bathroom to take a bath. (I take baths… they're more soothing than showers, as well as more effective, especially when you've got long hair.) I got out dried myself and headed to my door.

I opened the door and walked out two steps before a girl about the same age as me came to me and saw me. She quickly looked at me with wide eyes and had a double take. After a while, while I was frozen and thinking she was insane, she finally pointed at me and said, "You're naked…"

"Huh?" I looked down. "AHHHHH!" I screamed out as I shot back into my room and closed the door shut behind me, panting heavily. I grabbed my robe and put it on, lost in thought. I mean… a girl about my age saw me… she saw me naked… and yet… I didn't know who she was!

I finished getting dressed and opened the door slightly. I peered out through the small crack to see the hallway empty. I walked down it, planning to leave the complex, silently of course. I walked out, tiptoeing. My heart raced every time I passed a door, for the potential for it to open was great. My heart beat became irregular as I thought of running into the girl again. She wasn't a Hyuuga, that much I could see right away. She must have been the daughter to one of our maids. That's the only reason I could formulate in my head that she was in the main complex for, unless she had Clan business, which is unlikely.

I crept up to the sparing box with my back to the wall as I slowly approached it. I leaned my head in to see two Hyuuga kids inside being supervised by Neji. I walked by casually, looking at Neji. The two kids, both wearing regular white bandages around their heads, had their elbows locked with each other. They were sparing with each other. They were much younger than me, yet I saw that both had their Byakugan activated. Neji looked up to me and nodded. I nodded back and finally made my way to the front of the compound.

Today started rather interesting…

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"Alright students," a man said to us. He was wearing exactly the same thing Kakashi was wearing; only his underclothing was lighter. He had his headband straight on his forehead, much like Neji. He had a tanned complexion and had a scar across his nose. He had his hair in a ponytail which was on end. What a strange hairstyle…

"I'm your teacher from now until you graduate. My name is Umino Iruka, and here is how this first day is going to go. You will come up and announce your name, hobbies, and what you wish to accomplish as a ninja. After you do that, randomly point out a different child in the class, and they will do what you just did. When you introduce yourself, stand over here." He explained.

Clamoring started up. I assume some of these kids already knew each other. Iruka smiled and pulled up a clipboard, "First up, Will Nara Shikaiki come up here?"

A girl stood up and smiled brightly. She was wearing those pants everyone seemed to have; hers were colored brown. She had a net shirt under a small lightweight jacket that was a lighter shade of brown. She had her hair down to her waist, which had a golden color. She had brown eyes that looked bored beyond comprehension. She was pretty slender… She walked over to the front of the class and looked at everyone, "Hey everyone…" Well, she was open... -ish… "I'm Shikaiki. I like sitting outside. I, in all honesty, just want to prove something, I guess that's all…" she said, dully.

She looked over to the class and pointed a limp finger, "your turn." I looked around, everyone looked at me. "That's right, pretty boy, you." I sighed and stood up. She walked back to her seat and we passed each other. I gave her a look like I wanted to strangle her. When she saw me… she smiled…

"I'm Hyuuga Hiatari." People began to murmur. I felt like sneezing… "My hobby is running around Konoha with… Neechan… and I want to prove that I am not useless." People silenced. Of course they would, what Hyuuga is made to feel useless? Even branch members are successful, somewhat. I got tired of standing up there, with their eyes peering at me. I raised a limp finger, "Hey sunshine, come down here." I said pointing to a blonde boy with blue eyes. I walked up to my seat while he ran down.

He wore a purple suit, consisting of long baggy pants and a shirt that revealed the wearer's bellybutton and shoulders. Under this shirt he was bandaged heavily with white bandages from the waist up and shoulders down to elbows. He had some muscle on him, but he was skinny for the most part. He stood in front as I sat down. He smiled, "I'm not sunshine," he said, with a touch of malice in his voice, "I'm Inosuki Akimichi! I'm into herbology and I want to live up to my parents!" He blank a few times and smiled mischievously, "It's not random, but I pick my twin brother!" he said, pointing to the opposite end of the room.

I heard a groan as another boy got up and walked to the front as Inosuki, as he called himself, came back up. Another kid walked down. This kid was big; he had yellow-orange hair that was spiked in its own right. He had been wearing a blue light jacket and black shorts. He sighed, "Yeah, I'm Chobu Akimichi, that's my little brother. I like to eat meats and I also want to live up to my parents."

This process continued for a while… For now, I don't think I should continue recording this in my mind… I was bored…

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"So is it true, you're a Hyuuga?" a girl asked me. She had light blue hair and had bright amber eyes, which were huge! I mean, They're bigger than mine! Anyway, she was wearing basic black pants that actually reached to her ankles. She wore close-toed shoes, unlike most of us. She wore a plain red sleeved shirt that reached to her elbows. Her name was Byouki Tsuki

She was on the seating chart assigned to sit next to me. We were in the waaaay back, far right corner. She sat to my right, being in the absolute corner. I sat in the middle, while another classmate, who was relatively quiet, sat to my right. He had the same shirt she did, only in a navy proportion. His pants, like most of us, reached up to just below our knees, they too were black. He had bandages from his wrists to half his forearm. He had dark brown eyes; I _could_ mistake them for black. He was known as Zetsumei Airomaru.

"Aye, it be true…" I decided I'd give myself an accent, on account of being so bored…

"But…" she began protesting, "You have _black_ eyes… Do you have eyespots?"

"Aye, they be black indeed, but what thoust mean by 'eyespots'?" I said, trying not to laugh.

"You know," She got real close to me and then pointed to her eye, "This black part in my eye."

Trying to keep cool, I kept the accent up, "Nay, I do not be having those in my possession…"

She smiled and blushed slightly, which confused me. She got even closer to me, effectively invading my personal space, and said, "You're big…"

"Huh?" I said, confused beyond comprehension. She quickly snapped back to her sitting position, "Nothing!" she told me, singsong like.

"Uh-huh…" I thought. I couldn't help but be worried and flattered by that comment… What did she mean!?

"_Achoo…_"

I turned to see Airomaru brushing off his nose. Trying not to be a jackass like person, I asked, "Got a cold?"

"Sniff, No… Someone must be talking about me…" He said, unmoving, fingers locked in front of his face.

"Who'd be talking about you?" I asked, "and behind your back?"

He turned his head to the opposite corner of the class and scanned the class once over slowly, "I can imagine a few…"

It was true. When he introduced himself, most females in the classroom lit up and started vying for his attention. The whole madness only ended when we finally got our seating charts.

"Students! Listen up!" Iruka-sensei, the guy Naruto admires, spoke to us, "Take a look at your two desk mates, they will be your Team from now until the day you graduate and become genin… Know that after graduation that your current team mates will not be on your Genin team, for these have been chosen randomly and the Genin teams are chosen through skills. With this in mind, some teams might vastly over power others, but that is why you're teams in the first place, to push each other and get stronger."

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I looked at Airomaru and Tsuki and smiled. Hey, if I get along with them relatively well now, we should be bitchin' by the time we graduate… in two years… Okay, downside… I feel sad now… Lets see what this day is like for today…

"Okay then, Airomaru, Hiatari, Tsuki…" A man with silver hair spoke as he pointed to us individually. He wore cloth over is eyes (can he _really_ see through them, or is it all guess work?) and a mask much like Kakashi. His outfit was identical to Iruka's. "My name is Kokoka Genai; I will be your Training Chunin. Whenever you need to practice experience on the field first hand, I'm your go-to guy. Today is your first day so I would like to see what you can do. More than likely you can only come at me with Taijutsu. The odds of one of you using Ninjutsu isn't large, but neither small; some of your parents may have prepared you. The probability that any of you will use Genjutsu, however, is more than likely null. So, are there any questions before we get started?"

Tsuki rose her hand, "Yeah um… What's Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu?"

I could see the would-be teacher sweat drop. "Okay… A blank explanation of this would be… Okay I got it!" he spoke to himself, "Ninjutsu is manipulating your chakra to create effects for yourself. Some can manipulate it to shoot fire, others can manipulate it to freely move water, others can control wind, and some can move the earth. Things like that. Genjutsu is to manipulate your chakra around someone else to confuse them in to seeing and feeling things that aren't really happening. Taijutsu is basically throwing punches and kicks… for the most part… Okay does that explain everything?"

She smiled brightly, "Yeah!"

"Alright then," he said, letting out a sigh, "Lets begin?"

Airomaru instantly jumped out of the way towards some bushes. I followed the example and jumped away to hide in a tree. Tsuki stayed standing in front of Genai, looking confused.

Genai visibly smiled behind his mask, "So you're first…"

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"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I heard a feminine voice. I quickly ruffled through the tree leaves to see Tsuki unconscious. She was sprawled on the floor and had some bruises and cuts on her. I narrowed my eyes; Genai was nowhere to be found.

"Even the slightest sound can give your position away…"

I quickly turned to see Genai with a shuriken twirling on his finger. He smiled and threw me a kick. I was launched towards the clearing Tsuki was knocked out in and landed hard on my back.

"Ugh… That… That hurt…" I said, struggling to breathe. I looked at the tree I had been in and saw Genai was gone. I turned around and sure enough, there he was. He smiled (I think…) and rushed at me again. He kicked me again and sent me flying a few meters back. I hit my back against a tree, "Guah!"

I cant believe I was being hurt so badly… That's when I remembered his words, '_Ninjutsu is manipulating your chakra to create effects for yourself. Some can manipulate it to shoot fire, others can manipulate it to freely move water, others can control wind, and some can move the earth. Things like that. Genjutsu is to manipulate your chakra around someone else to confuse them in to seeing and feeling things that aren't really happening. Taijutsu is basically throwing punches and kicks… for the most part…_'

I coughed into my hand and looked at the blood that was in it. I stood up and started panting. Genai stood there, his shuriken still in hand, still spinning. I began to think back.

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"_Alright Hiatari… I want you to try and punch my face in… 's hard as you can…"_

"_Naruto-oniichan… Why"_

"_Well, I have a feeling this will come in handy for you…"_

_I rushed at Naruto and threw a punch at him. He sidestepped and grabbed my fist and rushed it down to the floor, causing me to trip and connect my face with the dirt._

"_Pppppt!" I said… sort of… as I spat out the dirt in my mouth. "No fair! You're better at me than this!"_

"_But you have the potential to be better than me one day… you have talents you have yet to get… trust me… you _can_ hit me…"_

_I rushed at him again and punched at him. This time he sidestepped and dropped down low to my level and swiped his arm up while under mine. His strength was incredible, because my arm was now in an inhuman reverse 45º angle. I quickly yelled out in pain and fell backward as my arm slowly curved to its humane position._

"_Do you see your mistake?"_

"_I'm too slow?"_

"_Well yes, but when you punch, you use all your force to go forward. When you punch at me, try side-swinging instead of jabbing directly."_

_I got up and ran at him, punching sideways. He ducked under my arm, which was funny _and_ amazing. For him to duck so low, he was actually on his back. Basically, he had gone from standing to laying. He quickly punched up and my side arm and hit my elbow again. It curved really badly and popped as I fell backward in pain once more._

"_You're getting good, but you have to realize that not everything will work…"_

"_You told me to punch at you like that, bastard!"_

"_Hey… watch your mouth, little six year old brat…"_

"_Old man!"_

"_Why I oughta-"_

Smack! _(What...? were you expecting a 'biff', 'bam', or a 'pow'?)_

_Naruto turned his head, and had a red cheek. I was next to him panting. I just closed fist backhanded him…_

"_Distraction… that's smart…"_

_I panted. True, I had to distract him, but I also had to run approximately four meters to reach him _and_ punch him, without him being able to counter. It seems it worked. "Yeah… I know…"_

_Naruto smiled at me, "You are his son…"_

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"You know… Your outfit looks like it was chosen by an old lady…" I said, backing up off the tree and standing.

"What!?" Genai yelled. I had already ran up to him and punched up at him, uppercut!

He quickly backed up and caught my fist.

"Yeah, It looks gay!"

"I'll have you kn-"

_Pow!_ (Happy?)

I had kicked him in the rib.

He yelled out in slight pain and used his other hand to grab my arm and tossed me really high up.

"Wuaaaaahoh!" I yelled as I was now effectively twenty feet in the sky.

He put his hands together in front of himself and started to move them really fast. His hand started to glow blue as he quickly started to hover his hand over where I had kicked him. After he finished, he took his shuriken and tossed it directly at me.

It came at me. Most kids, in this situation, would think something like 'I'm gunna die!' but I wasn't. I was thinking more like 'I'm _probably_ gunna die!' I knew that if I had caught that shuriken, I'll probably be able to rebound this, although that would take precise measurements. I'm good at measuring; really good, but I'm not a measuring god. I had to chance it. It was about a meter away from me when I swiped my left hand down. I caught it, but I caught it wrong, cutting my hand up really good. I screamed out in pain as I quickly grabbed the shuriken with my right hand and tossed it back at Genai.

It hit him in the neck, and he fell back. I thought I was screwed, but then he imploded and was replaced by smoke and a log. I sighed in relief. I looked down and realized that I was falling more than eight meters down. There's no way I'll live. Suddenly I was caught in mid air. My savior and I landed on the floor and he put me down. I looked at him and saw Airomaru. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… thanks Airomaru…"

I heard the rustling of leaves. Airomaru out of nowhere shoved me back and jumped backwards as two kunai flew past us. Airomaru quickly rushed his hands together and began to move them in different patters. He finished by having both of his index and both of his middle fingers pointed up as he bent back and called out. "Fuuton!"

He lunged his upper body forward in the direction the kunai came from and yelled, "Tatsu no Kokyuu!"(1) He blew out really hard and a rush of wind blasted from his mouth, cutting the tree in front of us into individual small logs. He stopped blowing and began to breath regularly, then heavily. He must have exhausted himself.

Genai fell from the sky and landed on the floor not far from us. "Impressive, that's a large chakra reserve, and that's a high chunin level jutsu… Although you over exerted your chakra; used too much… You're exhausted; physically from catching Hiatari and chakra wise from using too much than required. You can pass out now if you want…"

Airomaru sighed and fell forward, limp. Genai sighed and said, "Alright exercise over…" I sighed and fell to my knees. Thank god it was over!

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"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Stop that, Ow. Ow. Ow."

"Shut up, tying bandages is hard, you know…"

I had my left hand out in front of me as Tsuki was wrapping cloth around it tightly. Airomaru was laid down on a small blue mat next to me. He was panting heavily and had his eyes closed. We were in the infirmary. Tsuki had some bandages over herself in more than once places. I found it amazing that despite being hurt, she was still so cheerful.

"Augh!" I screamed in pain. She pulled on the bandage as tight as she could and cut the thread. She looked up at me and stood up. She smiled brightly, "It's done."

I pulled my hand to my face and clenched my fingers into a fist and opened them again. I did this about five times before I said, "It feels better, thanks…"

"Everyone okay now?"

We turned to see Genai standing at the door. He had an orange book in one hand and his other was limp at his side. He walked into the infirmary and the closer he got, the sicker I felt. That book... It was different, but oh… I'd recognize that symbol anywhere. I called it 'The 'Anti' Symbol' due to the fact that it was a circle with a slash diagonally across it. It was the same symbol that Kakashi's blue book had… I got up and walked up to my would-be teacher and looked at him.

"Hmm?" he said as he brought the book down a bit to my level so he could see…

…

(Blasted eye cloth… covering his eyes and what not…) He brought the book down so that I could she the tan cloth over his eyes.

I prodded the book with my index finger a few times. He said 'hmm' again as he retracted his book altogether and put it behind his back, "There's nothing to see here, Hiatari…"

"You're a perverted old guy…"

My teacher visibly flinched, "I'm not Old!"

Tsuki began to laugh, Airomaru let out a chuckle, and I was mortified; I think Genai was too…

"Listen, I wouldn't want to turn down a gift from the Hokage… sure it's a hand-me-down but he said I'd like the series," he brought the book to his front again, "Icha Icha Paradise is a perfect manuscript, with Icha Icha Tactics as its sequel, and Icha Icha Utopia as an even better sequel written by one of the author's students…"

"Who wrote it…?" I asked him, annoyed and ready to destroy something.

"I was actually _warned_ by the Hokage himself not to tell you who wrote it, but he didn't say that he was a great man and you probably knew him." He answered, now reading his book again.

"I know the author?" I asked, confused. "Maybe you did… I'm just guessing…" he said, turning the page.

I grumbled. "Oh," Genai said, putting the book by his side, "speaking of the Hokage, he wanted me to remind you to go see him right now… He wanted to see you about…" Genai paused for a while, "Twenty Minutes ago…"

"What!? Ahhh!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I ran out the room, still screaming, and made my way to the Hokage Tower.

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"Huff… Puff… Huff… Puff…"

I had reached the door to the Hokage's Office. I was breathing heavily. Maybe sprinting to this place from the academy _while_ screaming at the top of my lungs the whole way wasn't such a good idea. I gathered my breath.

I knocked on the door…

No reaction…

I knocked again…

Nothing…

I tried to open the door but it was locked. I knocked again…

Nothing again…

I punched the door hard, making a loud echo through the hallway.

Nothing…

I pulled my fist back once more,

"Hey…"

I screeched to a stop in mid-punch as I turned. There he was, Kakashi. He had his forehead protector covering his left eye. He was wearing the same suit as the other day, A Chunin outfit with a black underclothing and minus the vest. He had that blue book in one hand and the Hokage's Hat in his other. "You must be Hiatari…"

"Um… didn't you want to see me twenty minutes ago?"

He smiled behind his mask, "Well you see, I had some extra paperwork to- … well you probably don't care about that…" he said as he pulled the book down so as to see me with his one eye. He put the Hokage's Hat on his back and pulled out some keys from his pocket. He walked to the door as if I wasn't there and opened it. He walked in, silently giggling. I stood there, unmoving.

"Hey… you want to walk in or do I have to drag you in?" he said from within the room. I snapped back to reality and I turned red, "Oh, okay!" I darted into the room, closing the door behind me.

He was already at the chair behind his desk. He put the book down, saving his page, and laced his fingers in front of him, "Take a seat."

I complied.

He took a deep breath and let a long sigh out, "I have two reasons why you're here. One, I can finally get rid of something that has been plaguing me for quite a while already. And two, Naruto requested that I see you." I nodded. "Regardless of Naruto requesting me to see you, I would have called you in here one of these days anyway. But I digress, better sooner than later, right?" I nodded again. "I've got good news and bad news and worse news… and great news…" he said as if he were trying to figure out his words. I nodded again. He smiled at me, "Are you turning into a bobble head? I sure hope you have a string on your back, I don't like it when my voice is the only one in the room…"

"S-s-s-so-so-sor-or-rr-sorry!" I managed to say. Damn it, it _is_ hereditary!

He chuckled beneath his breath. "So what do you want? The great news, the good news, the bad news, or the worse news?" I tried to be professional about this, "um… lets s-s-start fr-from the worst t-t-to the b-b-be-est…"

"Alright," Kakashi said, "The worse news… hmm… grammatical error… Oh, right… really bad news. Okay. Well lets just say that even I have people superior to me; yeah I know, who's more superior to the Hokage? Well I'll spare you the details and tell you that the higher ups want me to keep you under ANBU surveillance, basically saying, you will be deprived of privacy."

"Why?" I said concerned and scared. Turns out fear can cure the stuttering shyness.

"Too many details, but in short, they want to keep tabs on, what they affectingly call their 'hybrid'… you…"

I think I said this before… you don't get much when you're half Hyuuga, half Uchiha.

Kakashi noticed me looking down in a mixture of emotions and moved on, "The bad news, your elders will have to be notified, so as they don't attack our ANBU incase they become detected. But," he paused, "I have pulled strings already which will… force… your elders to allow you to keep attending the academy, that being the good news."

I looked up at him. Did he do something for me?

"And finally the great news… I'm going to teach you how to use the Sharingan…" he said.

I got up, "Are you serious!?"

"Lost your stutter, I see…" he said, "Yes I am serious. Oh an I have a side note," I sat back down, "when you come of age, you will inherit the old Uchiha mansion to do with as you please. Nobody, not even me or the council keeping tabs on you, can take this right from you. The only people that can take this away from you are the daimyo himself, and the last two Uchiha's. You're lucky because the daimyo would care less, Uchiha Itachi has no plans for this village, and Sasuke utterly refuses to return here; not that he'd be allowed to anyway."

I nodded. "Alright, that's all for today. I want you to come here every day, even your days off. We'll see if we can't force your inner Shakugan to come out…"

I looked at him with my eyebrow cocked up, "Shakugan?"

He chuckled, "Think, Shakugan! Get it?" I shook my head, "Oh, sorry, it's a play on words. Sharingan. Byakugan. I just mixed the two and made Shakugan… cause… c'mon… Byaringan sounds dumb… right?" he finished, laughing silently to himself. I laughed nervously back while slightly nodding.

He let out a long drawn sigh and unlaced his fingers and stood up, "It's been educational, and I look forward to seeing your potential, Hiatari." He held out his hand. I looked at it and grabbed it. We shook hands.

"Um… goodbye, Hokage-sama…" I said as I walked for the door. I opened it when I heard Kakashi call out a 'hey.' I turned and he said, "You can call me Kakashi-_sama_ if you want…" he said, smiling behind his mask. I sighed and walked out to door and into the hallway.

As I left the Hokage tower, I thought… Kakashi-sama… I bet he's not used to that… but its _still_ catchy…

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I walked on the wood floor and opened the door to my room. I walked in and unclothed myself. I approached my bed and got under the covers… I have way too many of those that… wait a minute…

I have got an ingenious idea!

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(1)_**Fuuton: Tatsu no Kokyuu**_ – Custom Jutsu of my own design. Used by Airomaru. It means "Wind Release: Severing Breath"

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_**A/N:**__ Hey, New chapter. It was late due to school stuff, mild writer's block, and, of course, good old fashioned procrastination. I finally all my stuff figured out, school, writer's block, and not so much of procrastinating anymore, so I certainly hope that I might be able to release chapter three sooner than I did this one…Chapter 3 will also be better, because I feel that this chapter was rushed…_


	4. Arc One: Chapter 3

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter Three: **__Unexpected Tendencies _

_**Chapter Length: **__ 2,806_

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**__ 14,176__** \ Reviews:**__ 4__** \ Favorited:**__ 5__** \ Alerted:**__ 3_

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_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto… and I suppose Studio Pierrot too… I wish I worked there… I would have made the fillers shorter and less gay… BUT THE FILLERS ARE OVER! REJOICE FOR NARUTO: SHIPPUDEN! Ahhh… Disclaimer finished…

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"Yaaaaaaaawn"

I rose out of my bed and opened my eyes. "Muahaha… it worked!" I said to my self as I looked at my window. I took some kunai and pinned one of my many sheets over the window. The sun in my eyes was no longer a problem! I rose out of my bed got dressed. I walked out the door and went on my way to the academy.

As you can imagine, today has an uneventful morning.

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"Hey Hiatari… How's your hand?"

"Huh?" I looked at Tsuki. She was prodding my palm, "Oh, its better now, thanks."

She giggled to herself, "It's nice to see you in good condition."

"Um… okay," I said, "that has to be one of the many random things I've ever heard…"

"Yeah, well I'm just saying… seeing you all better would raise the spirits of others… you're so un-Hyuuga-ish..."

I chuckled, "Oh… and you know how Hyuugas are?"

She quickly moved her hands to her hips and puffed out her lips to make an angry face, "as a matter of fact, I do!" she said in a deeper than usual voice.

I smiled and patted her on the head, "Okay, stop that… such a face doesn't suit you…"

"Did you just call me cute?" she asked, reading between the lines.

I turned red, "N-n-no! I'm j-just saying tha-at you sho-shouldn't make that face is ah-all…"

She smiled, "Okay!" She sat down in her seat and faced the front

I sighed. What was that all about? She's being random today… Needless to say, I decided to sit down also. Then I heard a voice call out, "Hey…" I turned to see Airomaru taking his seat. I responded the same way as him and he nodded as he laced his fingers in front of him.

"Everyone, settle down now!" Iruka called from the front of the class. "Okay, today we're going to work on Chakra…"

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"Sorry I'm late guys, The Hokage had me in his office for a while…" Genai said to us as he jumped down in front of us.

"Are you and the Hokage related?" Tsuki asked out of nowhere. Genai visibly flinched backwards, "Sorry… no…. Why ask such a thing?"

"Sorry, it's just that you both seem to like that underclothing style," Genai looked down at himself, "the mask," he touched the fabric on his face, "_and_ the silver hair…" he ran his fingers through his hair once. "Eheheheh… I _do_ take after him a lot, don't I?" he said, scratching his cheek.

"Can you take off your mask off?"

Genai stopped. "Why?"

"Oh, just to see your face…" she said, putting a hint of innocence in her voice.

He sighed, "Fine." He put his finger under his mask and pulled it down. He grabbed the cloth over his eyes and pulled it up over his forehead protector. He seemed middle-aged. The only distinguishing features on him were his pentagramic scar over his entire right cheek. He still had his eyes closed.

"Please sensei… open your eyes…?" Tsuki asked, sounding concerned. I'll admit, I was intrigued by this too. Airomaru stayed staring, also intrigued.

He sighed again and opened his eyes. They were drowned in gold. His sclera was tinted in between white and yellow. His iris was dirty yellow. His pupil was like someone took a smidgen of black paint and mixed it with a fist-wide puddle of yellow. "Wh…why are your eyes like that!?" Tsuki asked.

He sighed, I could tell he was about to lie. "Accident…" he said, looking sad. "I can't see color out of them…" That last part couldn't have been a lie, judging from his facial expression and the way he said it.

"So you're color blind?" Tsuki asked, very concerned.

"No, I'm semi-blind…" he said softly. It was almost as if he hated it. "I don't see black and white either; everything is black for me except for your outlines."

"All you see is our outlines?" she asked, mystified.

He sighed as he closed his eyes and pulled the cloth over them again, "Just your outlines… although a 'bonus,' I guess you could say, is that no material object may obscure my vision, which is why I have this cloth. I'm also not susceptible to Genjutsu."

"That's amazing!" Tsuki said, amazed now. He sighed, "If you think so… CHAKRA!"

The three of us flinched. "CHAKRA! That's what we're supposed to be working on right now! So… GET TO MEDITATING! Hehehe…"

"Wait a minute!" Airomaru finally spoke, "That's blatant! You need to instruct us!"

"You're eight… you're old enough to do things on your own… besides, meditating is just preparation for what we're really going to do…"

"And an excuse to read that book of yours…" I said. It made Tsuki laugh. He sweat dropped and turned around, "Hey, if you read this, you'd like it too, sadly you're not old enough to be allowed to read this!"

"I don't wanna know that, man!" I yelled out.

"Liar!" He yelled back.

"Pervert!"

"Go meditate!"

He jumped so fast that it left behind some smoke. He left the three of us there alone. "Umm… what now?" Tsuki asked.

Airomaru sat down and put his hands together, "Meditate I suppose…"

"Yeah…" I said as me and Tsuki replicated him.

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"Hey… Hey… Heeeeeeey!"

I opened my eyes to see Genai standing there, "That's enough meditating. We're ready to get to chakra down."

The three of us got up. Genai stood there and put his hands in front of him. "Now, watch me" He put his right hand out in a fist and extended his two fingers up then placed his left hand and covered his two fingers with it while raising his left fingers up as well. "This is a Hand Seal, the Seal of the Rat. Airomaru, I'm sure you're familiar with it, as well as other Hand Seals and what they do." Airomaru nodded. "Tsuki, Hiatari. Hand Seals are important for channeling your chakra, without them, you can't use chakra efficiently. With this hand seal, I'd like you to transform into me."

Tsuki looked at me. I looked at her. "Um," I began to ask, "How?"

Genai sighed and put his hands to his sides. "Okay… Imagine there are lines going everywhere through your body, flowing a green spasm-like liquid. This green liquid, call it your Stamina. Now, with the seal, try to imagine your stamina and will it to go to your hands. When it does this, it will change to blue. This blue will be called Chakra. When your stamina becomes chakra, it will regulate to your entire body once and back to your hands, where it will release. When it releases, you have to imagine the effect and will your chakra to change your physical appearance, like this."

Genai put his hands in the seal of the rat and called out, "Henge!" He poofed up white smoke from his feet and when it cleared, I found myself looking at… myself…

The other me smiled and put his hands down, then spoke in my voice, "When you do this, you must take in all aspects of a person, height, weight, clothes, and voice." He poofed again and returned to his regular form, "So if it helps, I'm five-foot nine, I weigh one fifty-six and you know what I'm wearing and what I sound like. Good luck with this!" He said smiling as he vanished once more.

Airomaru spread his legs to about shoulder width and put his hands into the seal of the rat, "Henge!" he called out. He poofed up smoke. I expected to see him transformed into Genai, but instead I saw a bleached version of him with ruffled hair, disfigured face, torn clothes, three arms, and only one eye. Tsuki began to laugh. I couldn't help myself either. He poofed back into himself, "Damn…"

Despite our current laughter, I knew that this would take a while…

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"Feel that?"

"No…"

"That?"

"No…"

"That?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Kakashi jumped back as he dropped the senbon in his hand. I leaned back on my stool holding my right eye screaming in pain as I fell back and hit my ass on the floor. I rolled on the floor screaming in agony while Kakashi quickly started looking about the room franticly for something. He quickly dashed for the door and shut it.

"Do you have the Sharingan yet?" he asked, completely unconcerned.

"NO!"

"Are you sure? Can you perceive my movements?" he said as he started doing push-ups and sit-ups.

"If by that you mean 'can all you see is yellow and feint red on the top of your vision that is your blood' then NO, I CAN'T PERCEIVE YOUR MOVEMENTS!"

He sighed, "You're a real useless Uchiha, you know that?"

I got up and clutched my eye with my right hand and pointed my left at him, "_I'M_ USELESS!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A _HOKAGE_ BUT YOU CAN'T EVEN PROPERLY USE A SENBON TO DO A SIMPLE OPERATION!"

"It was an honest mistake, now just calm down…"

"_HONEST MISTAKE_!?" I removed my hand to show my bloodshot eye, "DOES THIS LOOK HONEST TO YOU!? YOU'RE INCOMPITENT AND AUUUUUUGH!" I clutched my eye again and bent over in pain.

The door burst open and Tsunade stepped in, "Kakashi-sama! What's going on here?!"

"Tsunade-hime, do me a favor and heal Hiatari's eye for me…" he said pointing at me while looking at her.

I was yelling in pain as the former Hokage looked at me, "Kakashi! What did you do to him!?" she said as she rushed towards me and put her glowing hands over my eye.

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"Uahahahahahaha!"

"That's not funny, Naruto!"

"Heee-yes it is! He stabbed your eye! What were you doing, letting someone like _him_ put a senbon to your eye anyway?" the fox grinning man asked me as he slurped more of his ramen.

I turned to him and he fought back his laughter. I had bandages over my right eye.

"Think about it, he always has his left eye covered… He can't have good depth perception… Well anyway, that was a good meal accompanied with a good laugh…" Naruto said, putting his eleventh bowl down. That man's stomach must have been replaced with a black hole…

"It wasn't a good laugh! I could have died!" I protested.

"But you didn't… Kakashi-sensei knows what he's doing, even if he seems to lie or be completely moronic about things… its one of the reasons I trust him as a shinobi and as our Hokage… Hell, it's one of the reasons why I trust him as a person…" Naruto said, vouching on Kakashi's behalf. I thought about it. Sure Kakashi screwed up… but at least he now knew what _not_ to do… right?

"I'm afraid I can't walk you home tonight Hiatari… will you be okay?" he asked.

I nodded, "Of course, I'm not a _little_ kid anymore, just a _kid_-kid!" I tried to mimic's Naruto's fox grin, but I probably looked dumb without the whiskers…

Naruto gave me his fox grin and patted my head, "Be careful out there _kid­_-kid­­.­­­­­­­­­" Naruto walked off in the opposite direction of the Hyuuga compound. I turned and started walking that way myself.

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"_-jibun rashisa wo chikara ni, mayoi nagara demo ii, aruki dashit- _uh?" I said. I had been singing a song to myself when I thought I heard something distant break.

I turned my head to my right. I narrowed my eyes and I saw a strange figure. To me, it looked like someone took a piece of cloth and placed it on top a long stick. This figure seemed to be a cloaked man or woman standing atop one of the wooden poles. As I narrowed my eyes even more, I realized that I saw something on what I assumed to be its back.

It jumped up landed on top of another pole that was closer to me. I looked at it. Somehow, I felt their eyes burrow into mine. Even though I couldn't see them, I could have sworn those eyes were inhuman… I could _feel_ that person gaze at me… I was scared and I stiffened up, only to be snapped out of it by a scream, "Hiatari!"

I immediately recognized that voice and called back out to it, "Tsuki!?"

I slowly put two and two together. Whatever was on that person's back, turned out to be Tsuki wrapped up in bandages. The brown-cloaked figure, itself, was not a normal resident of Konoha… it couldn't be… That's when I realized; He was kidnapping Tsuki.

"Put her down!" I yelled as I ran to the hooded kidnapper. He leaped up and landed in front of me. His hood covered his entire face with shadow. I could feel his glare. It smiled and began running to the Konoha gates. Without much thought, I ran after him.

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"Put me down you disgusting man!" Tsuki yelled at her cloak-hooded kidnapper. She struggled franticly but couldn't move much; even her fingers were stiffened up. She wondered if her prison was just too tight or if she had been poisoned with some paralyzing toxin.

I was right behind her. She looked at me, "Hiatari, help me!" The figure turned his head back. His hood was partially coming off, the shadows no longer covering the bottom half of his face. He grinned wickedly.

My eyes widened in fear, but I continued to run. I wondered what he was going to do to Tsuki. He turned back ahead and picked up speed. "Damn it… I'm not that fast…"

He was slowly but gradually losing me, but I still managed to keep him in sight up until we reached the academy. He jumped up to the roof of the academy and perched himself on the roof edge, looking around. I couldn't jump that high, but I could still climb the distance. I jumped and grabbed the side of the roof and lifted myself up with great difficulty. He turned to me and smirked as he jumped off and ran for the Konoha wall, not far from the gate.

It made sense to me; he wouldn't go through the gate, least he risk being seen. I had to keep up with him. I ran in his direction.

He was running at the wall and jumped to it then started running alongside it, he was running _up_ the wall… I looked up and noticed that there were cracks big enough for about my hands to fit. I jumped up and scaled the wall, occasionally needing to make those jump grabs.

I reached the top and there he was, waiting for me. Tsuki was struggling and grunting as she wiggled around. The figure smiled at me when I felt a cold grey stare hit me. Then, he reached for his waist on the inside of his cloak and pulled out a sword. He tossed it in between us and smiled again.

The sword suddenly picked itself up and unsheathed itself.

I was confused as to how this was possible, "Wh-what!?"

Before being able to question further, the sword dashed at me and swung horizontally at me. I ducked under it, but the sword hit me in the face with its butt. I stumbled back and landed on my back. The sword rose above me and dashed straight for my face. I rolled to my left as the sword impaled the stone behind where my head once was.

I got up slowly and looked at the kidnapper. He smiled again as the short sword disenthralled itself free and rose behind me. I turned around as it swung upward and cut part of my right cheek and the top of my forehead, narrowly missing my eye. I fell back as my bandages came undone.

I looked up at him and he smiled as the sword sheathed itself and floated back to his hand. He grasped the blade roughly and put it back onto his waist as he turned around and jumped off the wall.

I scurried up again and leaned over the edge. It was a long fall.

Well, all for nothing…

I jumped after him…

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_Crunch, Crunch, Crunch,_ was the sound the leaves made as I ran across them. I was following Tsuki's Kidnapper who had started jumping through the forest trees.

I don't know why, but it seemed like he was leading me somewh-

"Hey!"

I spun around to have three pointy blades to my face.

"Uh oh…"

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Unbeknownst to anyone else, three pairs of eyes peered over the moonlight village that was hidden in the leaves. Which ones where more sinister, who could tell… It was a close tie between the crimson red eyes and the deadly yellow eyes…

Their black colored, red trimmed, white patterned coats seem to shine in the moonlight…

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_**A/N**__: Dear god I apologize for waiting _this_ long to get this chapter out, really I am. I was having technical malfunctions (I up my cooling system) with my computer… that rendered it useless for _sooooo_ long… Again, I apologize, and I hope I didn't leave you hanging, it _could _be considered a Cliffhanger… Anyway, not to worry, I haven't been sitting around and wasting away (entirely) while my computer was in its month-long coma. I (semi-)promise that I will get the next few chapters out _much_ faster… maybe a week apart, sooner perhaps? I also promise that I will _never_ take so damn long to update… Again, my apologies, I hope you like the chapter, thanks for reading…_


	5. Arc One: Chapter 4

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter Four**__: Accidental Activation!_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 3,481_

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**__ 17,657 __**\ Reviews:**__ 8__** \ Favorited:**__ 6__** \ Alerted:**__ 4_

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_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. If I owned Naruto, you'd know… for instance… It probably wouldn't have been called Naruto!

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The moonlight glowed and illuminated overhead as a man stood on the monuments of the Hokage, Yondaime's head to be specific, as he looked down upon the Village. "Simple minded peons…" he said with much malice in his voice, "they have yet to understand the true meaning of events yet to come… They don't even suspect a thing… do they?"

Another figure stood up, atop the Rokudaime's head. He turned to the first man and, even within the moonlight this could be obvious, scowled at him. "No, they know nothing."

A third figure walked onto the Godaime's head. He carried a rather large object on his back. He looked over to the first figure, exposing his plain eyes with moonlight, and spoke, "Careful. We have been patient this long, we can wait longer… it is leader's demand…"

The first figure turned, gleaming out into the moonlit night his bright glowing yellow spheres. "I could care less what leader thinks." The second figure turned to him, showing his empty, cold, onyx eyes, and spoke, "It is what he wishes. You are lucky to even be here, do not go against our orders. We must capture him, Ikari-s-"

The first figure cut him off, "I have no interest in your target, only in mine. Know your place, murderer, you were once great to your leader's cause, but I am better now that I have come onboard. I suggest you do not question me… Understood?"

The third figure turned to the second and exchanged a look of worry and regret with him. The second man closed his eyes and sighed, thinking deeply. He opened his eyes, which were now bloody red, and said, "I understand… Ikari-san… Let us make our preparations." He put on a hat with two small bells, turned, and walked away, mimicked by the third figure; whom showed his relief.

The first figure smiled and looked once more at the village, "Konohagakure no Sato… I will gain my vengeance against you… That is… the promise of a lifetime…" he said as he grinned to himself. He, too, dawned a hat with bells, turned, and followed his associates.

Within the moonlight, it could be seen that these three figures walked with a calm and steady pace, their hats ringing softly but sternly as they continued. Their black coats with red trim and white clouds seemed to glisten as they walked away.

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"What are you doing on my property!?"

I rose my hands up in defense, "Nothing, sir!"

The old man stumbled forward with his pitchfork and nearly tripped on himself. I quickly rushed forward at him and helped him regain his balance, while disarming him. "Thank you, child." He said.

I smiled at him, slowly putting the pitchfork down onto the ground, "It was no trouble at all."

"Why are you out here so late?" he asked me after apparently studying me. I then remembered, "I think one of my friends is in trouble. I thought that I could hopefully make sure if she was okay, so I had to come this way. Sorry for trespassing."

"Well then, I'll let you go at the exchange of our names," he said, smiling, "You first."

Under the sense of urgency, I answered him without asking him why he wanted my name. He's an old guy, so it probably can't be of any consequence anyway. "I'm Hyuuga Hiatari… and you are-?"

He held out his hand, "Shouissai Uragiri."

I grabbed it firmly and shook, "Uragiri… that's an interesting name…" I said, not wanting to rub the elderly man the wrong way. "As is Hiatari, my young friend."

I let go of his hand and backed up slowly. I bowed and he bowed as well. Taking this a symbol, I leapt off into the moonlit trees once again.

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"What do you want with me?!" Tsuki roared out. She was wrapped tightly onto her kidnapper's back, whom was covered in shadows as he ran on the forest floor, crunching the leaves with each of his footsteps. "Answer me already!" she yelled.

"Silence," the voice sternly said; it was a modified voice, like if the kidnapper had a machine on his throat that made him sound metallic, "you will be kept safe if you do not struggle…"

"Well, why do you need _me_?" Tsuki asked again while trying to wiggle free from her bandaged coffin. The man skidded to a stop and dropped Tsuki on the forest floor. "Ouch!" she cried as she hit. She rolled once before her kidnapper's foot placed itself on her hip. He leaned in and stared into her eyes. She could see his eyes shine within the moonlight. His eyes had no white to them, instead had black, and had no pupil. Her trembling amber eyes met his fierce grey ones.

"You talk to much, girl." He said violently. Tsuki's eyes began to close. _'Oh no'_ she thought, _'I'm falling asleep… how could… I… fall asleep… at a time… like…'_ she never finished her thought before she began to breathe softly and eventually fell into a dream.

The man blinked three times and recoiled. He shook his head as if shrugging off a thought. He picked Tsuki up once more and began to run through the woods once again.

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I'm way in over my head. I'm one eight year old boy trying to find an eight year old girl who was kidnapped by someone who's probably three times my age. Despite that, I was determined to find Tsuki.

I was spiriting forward heading in the last direction I had heard Tsuki's scream. I screeched to a stop when I saw a black-cloaked figure standing in front of me. It stepped out of the shadows and I saw that it literally had no form. It was as if it was a three dimensional shadow. I don't know how I know this, but I knew that when it saw me, it smiled. It took a combat stance.

I'm way in over my head…

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"Ever a thorn in our side… isn't he?"

The black-robed, cloud-clad figure turned to his matching companion, "Yes, Ikari-san…"

"What I don't understand," the man with yellow eyes said to nobody in particular, "is why he chose to take that girl…"

"Perhaps," the crimson-eyed one projected his theory, "he plans to oppose not us as a whole, but just you. And to do that, he has taken the girl, knowing that you will fail?"

The first man sighed and placed his hand on his chin, "Let us see how things turn out…"

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"Hah… hah… hah… hah… _gulp_"

I peered from the side of the tree and saw my shadowy attacker rush at me once again.

"Crap!" I yelled as a rolled forward away from its punch. Its fist collided with the tree trunk and basically blasted the thing. Chunks of splintered wood rained in the direction of its attack. I knew that if I was even grazed by that, I would die.

I lurched forward at it. I knew distraction wouldn't work against this foe. How did I know? I don't know… it's just something that happened to make itself clear to me. It was like fighting a figment of my mind.

I threw it a left punch to which it merely ducked under. I threw it a quick right kick. It received it, but not before putting its arms up to block. It skidded back about a yard in which I ran up to it and jumped into the air punching down at it.

It kicked the floor, causing it to skid backward and avoid my punch, which had collided with the floor. Using that to its advantage, it got up and sprinted at me and threw me a punch. I could do nothing more than raise my arms up and take its jab.

I was propelled backward and my back met the harsh bark of a tree. I coughed up some blood and gripped my hands tightly as they hurt immensely. I looked up at my attacker and saw it taking a fighting stance. I would have been shocked if it had a definite form. But since I couldn't see it at all, perhaps this was a misunderstanding. All I knew was that its fighting form was Jyuuken, The Hyuuga Style.

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The brown-cloaked man, the kidnapper, carrying Tsuki was attacked by a gut feeling and smirked.

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The first red-cloaked man, Ikari, was afflicted by the same feeling and scowled.

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I got into the Jyuuken stance as well. Now… I don't _know_ the Jyuuken fighting style, but if this thing does, then maybe I'll learn from him… her… it…

It charged at me and threw its fingertips at me. I swerved my torso and bent back so as to dodge its fingers. I noticed that as its hand passed by me that his chakra was directly gathered at its fingertips. I tried to do the same and placed my left hand on the floor so as to stop my fall and readied my right. I jabbed up under its arm and it cracked as it bent upward.

It recoiled, holding its arm in pain as I fell back. I stumbled up. I don't know if it was the chakra or the fact that I had hit it in such a way, all I knew was that it was in pain and that I should continue to fight as such to defeat it.

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"Uah?"

The kidnapper looked to see Tsuki waking up, _'Interesting…'_ He dismissed her awakening and looked up back at what he was eyeing originally.

Tsuki opened her eyes and noticed that they were stopped. She looked around and noticed her kidnapper was sitting on her in a way that it was like if no weight was on her. She looked down and saw me. She was confused at what I was doing, however.

"What did you do to him!?" she demanded to know.

"Little girl," he said with his metallic voice, "I assure you that this is benefiting your friend for a greater good… if he dies, he dies. If he lives, he will be stronger for it. Either way, I win."

"What are you trying to accomplish!?" she yelled once again.

He sighed his robotic sigh, "I used you to lure him out here. I am… teaching him… in a way. Once this is over, I will leave you here for yourself, hopefully someone will find you…"

Tsuki's eyes widened in shock. She looked back at me and silently prayed for me. I would have never guessed that in her eyes it appeared as if I was fighting the air.

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"Lets go…"

"Ikari-san?"

The red-cloaked Ikari turned to his questioning associate and peered at him with his demonic yellow eyes, "Itachi, do _not_ question me!"

The other man, Itachi, closed his onyx eyes and opened them to show that they were bloody red, "Very well… However, if you don't mind me asking, is there something wrong?"

Ikari sighed, "Let's say that that brat is living up to his father's name…"

Itachi visibly flinched at this. "What?" he questioned, changing his eyes from crimson to black without closing his eyes.

"Uchihas are so complicated," the yellow eyed man sighed, "I don't know if you have latent feelings, but if you do, then put them out of your head. He _is_ the last of your family, after all…"

Itachi closed his eyes and started to twitch them. His forced concentration was broken when Ikari spoke up, "Go get Kisame. We're leaving, but we will be back soon."

Itachi nodded, "_Hai_, Ikari-san." He gave a quick nod once again and poofed off in smoke. Ikari sighed and put on his hat and began to walk away.

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"What… the hell… are you…?" I asked the shadowy attacker. It only moved his hand and tilted his head as if it was explaining something to me, but no noise came from it. Its jaw, or what I could call its jaw, moved fiercely as it got back into Jyuuken style.

I mimicked it again, wondering as to why it was simple for me to do this. I charged at it once again. It charged at me.

We began to exchange blows. It thrust its fingers into my shoulder as I hit its forearm. It attacked my thigh as I hit its chest. It thrust at my heart but I backhanded its arm away and thrust for its face. It batted away my arm and grabbed onto it. Our arms were both occupied.

I don't know how I know, but I could feel it smiling. It jumped up, using my arms as its leverage, and kicked at me with his left leg. Its leg collided with my gut and it used its right leg to sweep kick my face in the air. Its foot met my cheek as we let go of each other and I flew back and landed in some dirt. It flawlessly landed onto the grass on all fours and stood up straight as if nothing had happened to it.

It ran at me once again, but much slower. I thought that I was growing a concussion, for _everything_ seemed to slow down by just a little bit. Strangest thing was that I could still think and react at the speed I was once. I saw it punch at me but I was faster.

I skipped back and grabbed its fist with my left hand. With my right I lurched straightforward into its face, sending it fly back and hit a tree trunk. Without much thought, I ran at it and jumped. It looked up at me and I spin kicked it in the face. It flew back into the tree and crashed through it and landed partially in some water by the nearby lake.

It had no reflection as it got up. It lunged at me once again, but it still seemed as if it was slower. I smirked as I ran at it directly. It threw a punch at me, and I mimicked it perfectly. My speed, being greater than my attacker's, was apparent, as my fist met its face before its fist came close to mine. It flew back and splashed into the lake.

I ran to the shore of the lake and looked at it. My eyes went wide as the shadowy envelope around it began to disappear. I finally saw it… him for what he really was. I was shocked as it turns out I had been fighting myself.

It slowly disappeared as if was never there, which was stranger still to me as it seemed my clone made no ripples in the lake. That couldn't be right, he made a huge splash! I looked back and the tree I had kicked him through was perfectly fixed and untouched. I looked down at the water at my ankles, which made my eyes go even wider.

My eyes were red, still missing my initial pupil, but they each had one off-center pupil with an extension as if it was spiraling. I knelled down and touched my face and blinked a few times. It took me a while to break out of my trance, but once I did, only one thing came to my mind.

_Sharingan_.

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Tsuki could see her kidnapper's smirk. He suddenly spoke up, "It is done." He stood up.

Tsuki looked back at me and saw me at the lake examining my face. She turned to her kidnapper and asked in fear, "What genjutsu did you use on him?"

His smirk turned to a grin, "My girl, that was no genjutsu. It was my ninjutsu…"

"But how? Genjutsu makes a person see things, and does nothing much to the person's physical self." Tsuki explained.

"Ah," the man said, "but genjutsu cannot kill… at least most can't. Also, look at his clothes, see those slight tears. Those didn't make themselves… or at least they did, in a sense. His opponent was real, at least to him. His opponent could have killed him."

"What is this ninjutsu?" Tsuki asked. The man smiled at her, his eyes have changed to a regular shade of oak brown, "It's a special ninjutsu. It's related to the ninjutsu I used to make you sleep. But we have spoken enough, I must leave."

Tsuki panicked, "What!?" The man got off her and seemingly disappeared. She tried to struggle before she yelled out in anger, "AAAAARRGH!"

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"AAAAARRGH!"

I turned away from my watery image. I spun around and looked at a mountain like cliff and ran up to it and began to scale the wall.

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"Grrr… Rggg… Ra!"

Tsuki was struggling to get free up until I reached her. "Tsuki!"

She looked at me, "Oh my god, Hiatari! You're safe!"

"Wait a minute… _I'm_ safe? _You're_ the one who was kidnapped."

"I couldn't have cared less for myself just now when you were in danger…"

I felt a shade of red crawl onto my face, "Tsuki…"

"But now I couldn't care _more_ for myself! Untie me!"

I snapped out of my slight shyness and quickly ran to her and undid the bandages enough for her to undo the rest from the inside. Once she was free, I helped her to her feet.

I peered into her crystalline amber eyes, and she looked at my red-

"I'm glad these black eyes of yours haven't been damaged…"

"Huh?"

I looked at her with indifference. She looked at me as if I was insane and voiced her concern eventually, "What?"

"My eyes are black?"

She sweat dropped, "Uh-yeah, they've _always_ been black…"

"They're not red?"

She shook her head, "No, the only people who would have red eyes would probably have the Sh-"

She froze and looked at me. "Tsuki," I began to explain, "I was fighting myself… and during the fight, I got the Sharingan…"

"But only the Uchiha have the Sharingan and you're a Hyuuga…" she protested. I sighed, "I'm _half_ Hyuuga… I'm also _half _Uchiha."

"You're half Uchiha? Yeah… That explains why your eyes are pure black…" she spoke to herself. I grasped her shoulders, "Tsuki… You can't tell anyone… not Genai, not Airomaru… nobody."

"Is this something we have to keep secret?" she asked, half scared. I smiled and shook my head, "No, some people know, like Kakashi-sama and my family. Others know too, but I'll introduce them to you when the time comes… for now, we have to go home."

"I assume we have to keep this a secret too?" she asked, now worried. I put my arm around her shoulder and strangely enough she leaned on my chest. Fighting back my crawling blush, I told her, "I'm afraid so…"

Thunder crackled through the sky. Tsuki was just leaning against me as we walked along the mountainside. Thunder crackled again and it began to rain.

Rain at this time like this is just… bad timing.

We quickly ran to a small cave that just happened to be there. We ran inside and sat down against the cave walls. I began to shiver; my clothes were soaked. I looked over to Tsuki who suddenly began to take off her clothes. I immediately felt a blush inflame my face.

She took off her red shirt, which now looked like it was drenched in blood due to the rain. Underneath she had a white short-strapped shirt which was, for the most part, dry. She looked over to me and said, "Take off your clothes."

I got even redder and put my fingers together. I now resembled my mom's infamous 'I can't speak because I'm wondering what to say but I'm too confused and or embarrassed to even think' phase. She turned red and quickly turned around, realizing what she said and the way it sounded.

She slowly and quietly whispered something. I bent my head to point my ear to her. She spoke up louder, "Y-y-you k-now… s-so you d-don't c-catch a c-cold."

I thought about it. I was fortunate I wore underclothing as well. I took off my dirty brown-tan robes, only to have nearly identical white ones that were less thick and made of silk.

I looked over to Tsuki after she discarded her red shirt and black pants and shoes. She was in the white loose shirt and a pair of black shorts shivering from the cold.

Instinctively, for some reason, I crawled to her and gave her a warm embrace. I wasn't embarrassed in the least bit and, surprisingly, neither was she. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and placed my other one across her waist. She put her arms on my chest and leaned herself on them and she let out a sigh of relief as she adjusted herself to be comfortable.

Rain at a time like this is just… great timing.

I couldn't help but drift into sleep.

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_**A/N:**__ Here's Chapter 4, released much earlier than before, eh? Remember to read, enjoy, and Review… please? Thanks._


	6. Arc One: Chapter 5

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter Five**__: Sharingan Training_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 2,315_

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**__ 19,972__** \ Reviews:**__ 8__** \ Favorited:**__ 6 __**\ Alerted:**__ 4_

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_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Insert Custom Pointless indifferent Disclaimer ending here…

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"Hey… Hey… Heeey…"

I felt the warm clasp of a glove-worn hand on my forehead. I opened my eyes and saw Kakashi there. "Hey, you're up… are you okay?" I was slightly confused, but I nodded anyway. He coughed, "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

I cocked my eyebrow and looked at him questioningly. He pointed down. I looked down and saw a half naked Tsuki in my arms. I turned red. I slowly remembered everything that had happened the night before, the kidnapping, the old man, my attacker, activating the Sharingan, saving Tsuki, pouring rain, everything

Kakashi grabbed her shoulder and shrugged her a bit. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Kakashi. "Hey… you okay?" She nodded and looked around and tried to move her arms, which were obstructed by mine. She blank a few times and looked up at me and met my gaze. We both turned red.

Kakashi coughed again, "Alright the two of you have to come back with me." Tsuki looked up at him, "Oh God! Hokage-sama!" She quickly jumped out of my arms and began to bow to him, putting her forehead to the ground.

I was mortified.

He coughed again, "That's not necessary." She rose up to her knees and she bowed that way once and froze in position. Kakashi looked over to me and back to Tsuki, "You two should really consider putting your clothes back on…"

I looked over to the pile of robes that were once wet. They were still moist, but dry enough to wear. I crawled to it and put them on. Tsuki came over to me and put on her black pants and red shirt, taking her hair out of her shirt after she had finished. We both stood in front of Kakashi as if waiting for orders.

He coughed. "Do you have a cold, Kakashi-sama?" I asked. He looked at me, "No, I'm just doing this whenever I think something you two do is unnecessary. I used to just put my hand in front of my mouth, but people didn't get that, so now I cough… its more polite than yawning… don't you think so?"

I shrugged, "I suppose so." Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Well then let's get you two back home."

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"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto was running up to Kakashi. He spotted me. He skid to a stop and tripped, falling to his face. He quickly got up, and pointed at Kakashi with a look of disbelief on his face, "What did you do to Hiatari!?"

Kakashi rose his hands in defense, "Relax, Naruto, I didn't do anything. I was just retrieving them from-"

"Hokage-sama!"

We turned around to see my mother running up to us. She spotted Naruto. She flat out fell onto her face and stayed there, giving off a silent yet subtle, "Ow"

"Mommy!" I am such a dork. I ran up to her and pulled her to her feet then hugged her waist tightly. Tsuki walked over and stood next to me. "Na-na-nana-Naruto-kun… I-I was n-not aware th-that you were h-here…" she said, index fingers in front of her.

"Okay, Naruto, Hinata, relax… I just took these two on a little trip, nothing happened to them. Trust me." Naruto, who had a finger out at Kakashi already, raised it then dropped it back down and started prodding the air in front of him, "I can't trust you!"

My mother walked over to Naruto, "But N-Naruto-k-kun… Wh-what If h-he is t-t-telling the tru-truth?" Naruto let his finger fall limp and looked over to my mom and smiled at her, "Okay then, Kakashi-_sensei_," saying 'sensei' like if he was suspicious, "what happened on this little trip?"

Kakashi sighed and closed his eyes and put his hands in his pockets, "I was running a kidnapping situation with them to see if they could escape and or rescue each other… isn't that right, kids?" he said, looking back to us as he finished the last part.

Tsuki and I looked up and quickly nodded as she said, "Yes, that's what happened."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Alright then…" He walked over to me, which made my mom turn redder, and scuffled the top of my hair, "Don't let this pervert command you in anyway…" I nodded.

"Naruto." Naruto turned around to Kakashi, "I need to talk to you, but not now. I'll send you a message when I can speak with you."

Naruto nodded and walked off. Kakashi turned to me, "Hinata… can I borrow Hiatari?"

She snapped out of her trance and looked at Kakashi, "O-of course, K-Kakashi-sama"

My mom patted my back and semi-pushed me over to Kakashi. I walked over to him and turned around to my mom. I wondered how I might break the news to her...

My Mom smiled and turned around and walked off, I assumed she was headed back to the clan's house complex. Tsuki walked beside me. Kakashi stood behind us.

"Okay you two, let's come into my office…" Kakashi said, placing his hands on our backs.

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"Tsuki… did you happen to see who tried to kidnap you?" Kakashi asked as soon as he sat down in his big chair.

"How did… Um, I saw his eyes…" she responded, "How did you know I was kidnapped, Hokage-sama?"

Kakashi took out a purple crystal ball and twirled it on his finger, "This thing lets me see many things within twenty miles of Konoha's borders, as well as all of Konoha. I was interested in Hiatari's current activity and I saw him illegally leave the Village in a hurry. I knew that he wasn't willing to leave and become a nuke-nin, so I scanned in his future direction and saw you being carried away. I quickly acted."

I crossed my arms, "Quickly acted?" Kakashi nodded, "Yes…"

I put my hands on his desk, "So is that why you didn't get to us until morning? I can move pretty fast, but I'm not The Yellow Flash!"

Kakashi recoiled, "Well you see… on my way I saw a cat so I had to get around it…"

Kakashi sweat dropped. My left eye twitched. Tsuki stared blankly. "It… It took you," I said, unable to find the words, "It took you four hours… four… hours… to get around a cat?"

Kakashi smiled sheepishly, "Well yes…"

I stared at him blankly. Kakashi raised his hands in defense, "Well you have to understand… it was a _black_ cat… you know what they say about _those_ cats…"

This man was Hakate Kakashi… This man became a Jonin at the age of 12… This man was known as Copy-nin, Sharingan no Kakashi…This man was the Sixth Hokage… And he took so long to get around an animal not even a meter long…?

"What is wrong with you?" I asked him, almost in an angry voice.

"I… I…" he looked around the room as if an explanation would pop out at him screaming 'Say me! Say me!'

"Hokage-sama…" Tsuki rang in, "is there a reason you brought us here?" she asked, hiding her… fear of admiration… I suppose I could say.

"Yes, of course… Hiatari… What happened?" Kakashi said, putting the purple sphere away.

"This man tried to Kidnap Tsuki… and he-" Kakashi cut me off, "What did he look like?" I sighed, "I didn't see his face…"

Kakashi turned to Tsuki, "You saw his eyes?" She recoiled slightly, "Y-yes, Kakashi-sama…"

"Could you perhaps describe them?"

"Um… The whites of his eyes were black… He had no eye-spots-" "Pupils," I corrected her, "pupils. Um… he had big grey eyes…"

Kakashi put his hand to his chin and stared into his hand with his cut fingered gloves over it and thought for a while, "A black sclera and grey iris which dilates over the pupil…?"

Tsuki nodded.

Kakashi went into his drawer and pulled out a small black book and opened it up. It seemed to have six sections, seeing as how the pages were colored differently. There was a red section, a blue section, a brown section, a yellow section, a tan section, and a section that wasn't colored. Kakashi flipped over to the blue section. He traced his finger down the list of names and found one, went to the page number, and flipped in the book.

He found the page number and looked at it. He placed it to us and pointed at the picture. The picture was a middle-aged man who seemed to glow as if he were some sort of knight in shining armor. He did, however, have the eyes that Tsuki described. "Is that him, his eyes at least?"

Tsuki nodded again.

Kakashi sighed again and picked up the book and brought it to his face, "Seishin Kenshi… S-rank Kirigakure nuke-nin… Part of a special clan from Kiri… Information on this clan is restricted, due to the un-easy alliance with them… Left Kiri approximately eight years ago. Charged for, aside deserting, murder of thirty-seven Kiri Anbu, twelve Kiri Jonin and the one who killed the Mizukage… He had two partners, a seemingly old man who remains, to this day, unidentified, and another nuke-nin from Kiri, named Kujo Ikari, another S-ranked criminal…"

Kakashi closed the book. "You guys are lucky to even be alive right now…"

"He said that," Tsuki spoke up, explaining, "he was teaching Hiatari…"

Kakashi's eyebrow cocked, "Teaching him what?"

Tsuki looked over to me. I spoke up, "I activated the Sharingan…"

Kakashi closed his eyes and began to think deeply. Tsuki and I leaned in inattentively waiting for his response. He chuckled. My curiosity peaked. Kakashi looked up at me, "My senbon operation worked, then…"

"It did not!" I yelled at him, pounding his desk, hurting my palms.

Kakashi smiled, "Relax, I think I understand… The first thing we'll do is prep you for Sharingan training… but first, I must ask you to refrain from telling _anyone_ that you have activated the Sharingan… Not Naruto, Not Hinata, Not your classmates, and most certainly not your elder clan members…"

"Nobody?" asked Tsuki, mildly concerned.

"Is there someone you _wish_ to tell?" Kakashi asked her.

"Well," Tsuki said, flinching slightly, "no, but if someone might be able to help us out, they _should_ know… shouldn't they?"

"Yeah," I spoke up, "therefore I can tell Naruto and my mom at least!"

Kakashi looked at me seriously, "Out of the question. Hiatari, you need to understand, while they would protect you on a whim if he could, Naruto and Hinata won't always be there to bail you out… and, the fact of the matter is, neither will I. If you trust some people, its best you do indeed trust them fully and that you tell _me_ about them first before telling them about the Sharingan… Understood?"

"What about Airomaru," Tsuki asked, "and Genai?"

Kakashi turned to her, "Who's Airomaru?"

"He's a classmate, our other temporary class teammate…" I said.

"Oh," Kakashi said, genuinely surprised, "you two are teammates… Are you sure you'd trust this Airomaru to be your third wheel?"

I nodded.

"Well, I'll draw up some information on this Airomaru…" Kakashi remarked, "Hiatari, aside from who I approve, you are to tell nobody of your Sharingan. I'm not doing this to be mean, it's for your own good…"

"For my own good? I can't tell people what I can do; that's a real luxury…"

"Hiatari, listen," Kakashi said, standing up, "trust me when I say that it is within your best interests to keep the Sharingan a secret… at least for now… I'll tell you what, the day you officially become a genin, forty-nine months from now, I'll let you tell _the world_ that you have the Sharingan, but for now, you may not speak of it…"

I sighed… He must have had a good reason to tell me to keep this to myself… I wasn't going to question him…

Kakashi sat back down, "Now, as for Genai, I'm sure he's a trustworthy person… and he's becoming a Jonin in four year's time, just before you graduate to genin status… If I could pull some strings, if you still trust him when you turn twelve, I could pull some strings to get him to be your jonin instructor."

I nodded and turned to leave, Tsuki following me, confused. "Hiatari," I turned to Kakashi, "don't do anything you will regret… See me here tomorrow, same time as always…"

"Yeah I got it…" I said as I opened the door and walked out. Tsuki left the room and closed the door behind us, "Hiatari, are you okay?"

"Just peeved… but I'm fine, yes…" I said.

"What's wrong?" she asked me.

"Well," still walking down the hall, "I don't like keeping things from those I care about… Its like knowing someone is going to die and how, but not being able to tell them… just not to that extreme…"

Tsuki walked in front of me and began to stride backwards so as to face me the entire way, "I know it will be hard, but you can trust me…"

"I know I can… after all, I care about you…" I said that without thinking, which made my face feel slightly warmer.

She blushed and then tripped on herself and fell onto her back as she yelped. I helped her up and she tripped and landed against me. She was being clumsy that day… I didn't think of it then, but we seemed to be in a provocative position… Neither of us cared… or actually _got_ it for that matter…

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Little did I know at the time of what was going on in Kakashi's mind as he looked out the window.

'_Hiatari… The kid is only eight years old and he acquired the Sharingan… that's even earlier than Sasuke… If I'm not careful in teaching him, Konohagakure no Sato just might have another noble clan extinguished… as well as a new Itachi…' _

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_**A/N: **__The chapters get shorter, but so that they don't bore you. Sorry about this chapter, I know it seemed 'filler'ish and I apologize. It was the best I could do without keeping you in suspense… Anyway, thanks for reading and remember, I beg for your reviews… I'm a junkie for them… Feed my addiction… Cya!_


	7. Arc One: Chapter 6

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter Six**__: Getting Down to Business_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 1,600 _

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length: **__21,572__**\\Re****views: **8__**\\F****avorited:** 7**\\**__**Al****erted:** 5  
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_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Aren't you getting tired of these as they appear in like every first page of every Naruto Fic. you read? I am… I hope I'm not alone…

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"Alright now, this exercise will be simple…"

"What is he going to do?"

"_Cough_… I was getting to that… Hiatari," Kakashi turned to me.

"Yes?"

"Your objective is to simply dodge whatever I toss at you…" he said.

"You won't throw kunai or shuriken at him, will you?" Tsuki chimed in, again.

"No, no! Of course not… yet…" Kakashi answered her, saying the last part in whisper.

I gulped. I couldn't help but be worried.

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"Well… You survived so far… Are you sure it was the Sharingan that you activated? You're sure the blood didn't rush to your head?" Kakashi asked me, sounding unconcerned.

I, however, was on my knees, vastly cut and bruised as my clothes were torn and scorched. I looked up to him, "I… I swear… I activated the… The Sharingan…" My breathing had become transformed from an involuntary bodily function to a competition to survive.

"Swearing is bad for children." Kakashi said, nonchalantly.

"Why you-"

"Alright then, how about we go inside, patch you up, eat a full meal, and we can try again later… How does that sound?" he said, probably grinning behind his mask.

"That…" I sighed, "does sound… good…"

My world slowly faded to black.

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"Oi… Oi! Hiatari, get up…"

I started blinking repeatedly, so as my eyes could focus on the new illumination of where I currently was.

The first thing to come into focus was Kakashi standing over me with Tsuki by his side.

"Tsuki?"

Kakashi put his hand over my forehead, "Relax… You just have a fever… I didn't expect for you to pass out, but you did. I'm going to keep you here until I can give you something and send you home for the day. Is that alright?"

From the way he asked me, I understood that it wasn't a question. "Yeah, got it…"

He slowly stood straight up and walked away. Tsuki loomed over me and touched my face.

"Uhh… Tsuki… I…"

"You're burning up…" she said, worried.

I smiled, "it's just a fever, I'll beat it…" – She didn't seem to sure – "I promise."

Her expression showed surprise, but she quickly replaced it with a smile of her own, "I know, but you have to stop pushing yourself or you might… well, just don't push yourself..."

My smile became a grin, "I'll be fine, alright?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

Kakashi came back holding a bottle, "Here, if you drink two teaspoons of this every two hours, you should be cured of your fever… So that means if I give you _four_ teaspoons every _single_ hour, your healing time will be cut in half. Hmm…"

… What Kind of Logic is that!?

Tsuki quickly got angry and snatched to bottle from the Hokage… It made her seem like god…

She took a deep breath, about to completely drop a bombardment of large bombs that would forever scar the Hokage in his use of modern medicine. "That's not how you use medicine! You'd kill him with that much, or at least hurt him badly! Do you want that, huh!?"

As Tsuki continued to yell at my future teacher, I pondered on how women of all types, even if they have no shinobi skills, can bring down the fiercest and most deadly of men... with words no less. I wonder if it was inevitable for me to fall to that, but looking at Tsuki, it didn't seem so bad of a fate… Even though I would be on the receiving end of that…

Finally, Tsuki's rampage had quelled itself as she huffed in air deeply as the Hokage in front of her seemed darker, almost hurt, but physically unaffected. "Sigh… I wish Tsunade-sama were here…" he said to himself.

"Kakashi-sama," I spoke up.

"Hmm?" he turned to me.

"Just give me the regular amount right now…we'll see if I can't train with you right afterward…"

Kakashi looked at me, slight surprise showing in his eye. He smiled, "Alright then."

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"Hiatari, do me a favor," Kakashi said, "when your Sharingan activated, did you see it… like a mirror image of it?"

I thought about it and snapped my fingers, Tsuki turning her head towards me in question, "Yeah, I did see myself in a water reflection."

He nodded, 'hmm'-ed, and said, "Well, do you remember what it might have looked like?"

I thought about it, "Well…" – I said to nobody in particular – "it was hard to see, but my," I paused and looked at Tsuki. I smiled, coyly, "eyespots," – she frowned – "turned entirely red. I had a small black parts in each of my eyes, but it was off center and it looked like it was trailing off… kindof like a comma…"

He nodded, "A tomoe… How many did you have?"

"One in each eye…" I answered.

"Hmm," he said again, "just like Sasuke…" he said in whisper.

"What?" I said.

"… Hmm? Oh, nothing… well, anyway," Kakashi said, "If we can train your use of the Sharingan, eventually you'll develop it to its full base potential.

"Full Base Potential?" Tsuki and I said in unison, asking about the wording of that more than the meaning.

Kakashi sighed and pulled his forehead protector up, so as to stop covering his left eye. He opened it.

I finally saw it. The eye of the magnificent Copy Nin Kakashi. The Sharingan.

Tsuki pointed at it, "You have three commas!" she exclaimed.

He chuckled, "I do. This is the fully developed Sharingan."

"How do I get it?" I asked him.

He looked at me as he covered his Sharingan eye again, "Train… Train, Train, Train…"

"What," I said, "but I bet you didn't have to train that eye!"

"That's not true," he said, coyly, "when I first got it, it had two tomoe. I've trained it so that it's even better than then. Much better… The Sharingan can be a very dangerous tool in the hands of someone bad. It's almost like an eye of a god…"

I coughed, that couldn't _possibly_ be true…

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"Alright, are you ready for some exercises?" Kakashi asked me as we were once again in the field.

Tsuki wasn't here this time. But Genai was watching, so I felt safe… sort of…

"Do I have a choice?" I said. It was more of a statement than a question.

He smiled as he ran at me.

This was obviously not his full speed, because I could see his movements clearly.

He reached me and pulled his left arm back and punched at me. I ducked under it and sprigged back up under his arm as I threw my own fist at his chest. He caught my fist with his free hand. He grabbed the back of my shirt and with both arms, lifted me up and tossed me far behind him without turning around.

I flipped in the air as I landed on my feet, spraining my ankle slightly. I cringed in pain and stood back up. He still had his back to me. He reached into his side pocket and pulled out that light blue book. He made a sweeping motion at me without turning and opened the book. I felt a pain in my shoulder. I looked at it and saw it was bloody. There was a needle sticking out; a senbon.

I looked back at him. He was slightly turned at me and he said, "You know… if you move too slow, you'll never survive as a ninja…" He turned a page and turned to it. I growled and pulled the senbon out of my shoulder and ran at him with it in hand. He turned another page. I jumped up and tossed the senbon towards his head. He ducked under it with ease. I threw my left leg out to dropkick him, but he counter by turning his free arm upside down and grabbing my foot.

"Too predictable…" he said, sounding bored. With what seemed like little effort, he turned his arm, causing me to spin in the air. He then threw a rather slow backhand punch at my chest and sent me flying back four feet as I rolled on the ground in pain.

"Ugh…" I said as I struggled to get up.

"C'mon, Hiatari… You can do better, I'm sure… I heard you managed to punch Genai over there… Let me tell you now," Kakashi looked up at me, "distraction won't work on me…"

"I'll get you!" I yelled as I ran at him.

He sighed, "Its always the loud ones…" I jumped at him but he disappeared in a quick puff of smoke. I felt a serge come down on me as I fell straight to the floor. He laid on top of me. "Charging head first solves nothing, how are you going to activate the Sharingan if you just-"

I turned to him quickly and stared at him coldly. He stopped talking and just looked at me.

He smiled. Genai jumped down in front of us and Kakashi got up off of me.

"Congratulations…" Kakashi said.

"Huh?" I said.

Genai held up a pocket sized mirror to me.

I looked at myself.

I had the Sharingan again.

Unlike last time, though, I had _three_ tomoe in my eyes instead of two.

"We're going to work on that," Kakashi said, "we need you to activate it by other means than just rage…"

I touched my cheek, observing my eyes. One eye had two tomoe and the other had one.

The Sharingan…

"Ohhh," Genai said, "We're gunna have fuuuuun" he said, in a singsong manner.

I grinned like Naruto.

This is going to be fun…

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_**A/N: **Alright! I'm back in action! Haha! I'll update more frequently now, so don't fret. Maybe twice a month! WHO KNOWS! Haha!  
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	8. Arc One: Chapter 7

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter Seven**__: Informant of the Water _

_**Chapter Length: **__ 3,238_

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**__ 24,810_**\**_**Reviews:** 8_**\**_**Favorited: **7_**\**_**Alerted: **6  
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_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. This story is mine, however. Enjoy it! (Not a Request)

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"There you go, now you have the hang of it!"

"HA!"

"Ugh!"

"Hiatari!"

I skidded back a few feet and held my chest. I looked over to the right and saw Tsuki and Kakashi looking at me. I turned back to my opponent, breathing heavily.

There he was, standing there in his stance. He grinned.

"What's wrong, Hiatari? You're the Sharingan warrior, how could you be losing to me?" He taunted.

"Shut up, Airomaru!" I screamed at him. After gathering my next few thoughts I charged full speed at my teammate.

He chuckled to himself and charged at me. We headed for each other at full speed.

"Ha!" I screamed as I threw a punch his way. Airomaru ducked and thrust his forearm under my punch so as to make an opening to hurt me. His reactions, seeming slower to me, were obvious. I turned and thrust my other arm into his chest. He grabbed my fist head on with his free hand. I was in trouble.

I had been sparing with Airomaru for the past six days. On the first day I told him everything, and he was willing to aide me in whatever way he could offer. I asked him to spar with me. In the middle of that sparing match, Kakashi happened to see the fight and suggest that we practice together every day. In these six days, I truly got to know most of Airomaru's body movements. I knew that if we ever locked in what would appear to be a stalemate, it was game over for me. Airomaru had an unreasonable flexibility and strength I could never replicate.

Airomaru smirked and grabbed my high had with his other arm. Bearing down pressure on me, he lifted his entire body up and kicked me in the face. He let go as a skid back once more and he flipped in the air and landed on all fours.

The way Airomaru fought was incredible… It was like fighting an animal…

Coughing up blood and spitting it out fiercely, I got back into stance. He smiled and straitened up, soon entering his stance again.

"Enough, you two. That's good for today."

Airomaru sighed and relaxed, stretching his arms. I let out my sigh as well as I loosened up.

"Hiatari!" I heard the feminine squeal. Instinctively, I tried to run, but didn't manage to even step once before I was literally tackled by Tsuki onto the floor. "Hiatari! You were amazing!"

"Amazing? I got the crap kicked out of me!" I protested.

"By who," Airomaru said smugly, "by my Kick or by Tsuki's glomp?"

"Both?" I said.

"Now, now, you three…" Kakashi said, open book in his hand. He wore his familiar jonin outfit (minus his vest) and the Konoha forehead protector over his left eye.

"So… how was today, Kakashi-san?" Airomaru said. In these past six days, Airomaru has gotten really friendly with Kakashi, first calling him Hokage-sama, then just Kakashi-san.

Kakashi closed his book and pocketed it, "Well… Hiatari's hits on you were pretty damaging to you." he said, "but you _did _land many more hits on Hiatari…"

Airomaru bushed his cheek, "Heh, I _guess_ that's true."

It was an understatement… I punched Airomaru fifteen times in the entirety of our thirty minute practice. Airomaru, on the other hand, punched me forty-seven times, kicked me eighty one times, and head butted me seven times.

"Stop being so modest, Airomaru" Tsuki said, giggling as she helping me off my feet.

"Heh, Well, I'm not one to brag…" Airomaru said, scratching his nose.

"Alright, you three, lets go back…" Kakashi said.

"Right!" We all chimed.

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"Hey, Hiatari, turn off the Sharingan…" Tsuki said to me.

"Huh?" I asked, "Oh, right…" I said as I closed my eyes and felt the strange feeling in them disperse.

"You got a handy tool there, Hiatari" Airomaru said to me.

In these past few days of sparing with him, I learned how to willingly draw out my Sharingan. It exhausted me tremendously, so I only used it towards the ends of our fights when I felt I was losing. It was my trump card.

A failure of a Trump Card…

"All he needs to do is train it… and remember that Hiatari is a Hyuuga, so _I've_ got premonitions of a _Shakugan_ happening…" Kakashi said, smiling in an idiotic way.

"Shakugan?" Airomaru and Tsuki chimed in.

"Oh, that's an inside joke between me and Kakashi-sama…" I insisted.

"Waaait…" Airomaru said, "You're a Hyuuga… but you can't use the Byakugan?"

"Its not that I can't… Its that…" I froze… I honestly had no comeback to that.

"Alright," Kakashi groaned as he sat in his Hokage Chair, "its no use taunting him about it now… We need to concentrate on the Sharingan…"

"Kakashi-san…" Airomaru said to him, suddenly serious.

Kakashi looked up, "Hmm?"

"You've been focusing on Hiatari this past week. In this week you have taken every opportunity to train his Sharingan constantly… You've even taken him out of class on three occasions." Airomaru said. Its true, Kakashi took me out of the Academy in the middle of the day for the past three days.

Kakashi seemed to glare at him, "What are you getting at, Airomaru?"

"You're preparing Hiatari for something… What is it…?" He responded.

I looked at Kakashi. It _did _seem as if he was trying to prepare me for something…

"I wont lie," Kakashi sighed, "Hiatari can only be kept under my protection for so long. Once Hiatari moves up to genin status, I can not overlook him anymore. Worse than that, if and when he reaches chuunin status, the Village elders who see Hiatari as nothing more than a mere weapon, will take him."

I froze. I felt Tsuki's grip on my arm tighten as she looked at Kakashi in a shocked state. "I'm preparing him so that he can become a survivor if need be… The elders will turn him into a lab experiment and a tool for war… If worse comes to worse… Hiatari might have to end up running away… He will be labeled as an A-Class nukenin who will have the explicit order to be returned alive… To train him now means to prepare him to live on his own and to hold his own…"

"So you _want_ Hiatari to be hunted ruthlessly as soon as he becomes a chuunin?" Airomaru said.

I glanced at him while Kakashi continued, "No… I don't want him to run away… but If he wants to, at least he can survive… Its better to start learning how to fight ruthlessly now instead of then… but that's obvious isn't it…"

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-san, but I cannot agree with your methods…"

"Are you so sure… Is that why you fight Hiatari so vigorously and beastly…" Kakashi asked him. Airomaru stiffened. "If you didn't agree to my way of thinking, why is it that, if even for a moment, you fight Hiatari as if you want to kill him…"

Airomaru didn't respond. I looked at him. He… fought to kill me…?

"Airomaru, you're so young and you know the fundamentals of what it means to be a shinobi… even though your means are unconventional… even you know that its crucial to teach Hiatari this _now_ rather than later…" Kakashi stated blankly at him.

Airomaru sighed and put his hands on the desk. "Fine… but its inhumane to have to ask this of an eight year old…"

"I know…" Kakashi said, frowning behind his mask.

Tsuki turned her head to me with a worried look. I could understand where that worry came from…

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"You've been avoiding me lately, haven't you?"

"Not at all, Naruto-neechan!"

"Yeah? So who's the girl"

Tsuki was standing behind me, scared of Naruto.

"Her name is Byouki Tsuki. She's my classmate and current temporary teammate"

"Temporary Teammate?" Naruto asked. He then lit up, "Oh yeah, I forgot the academy was running a 'team fundamentals' kind of thing for three years now… If you ask me, that's a good idea to put you on some temporary teams before making you full on ninjas… So… who's your other teammate?"

I sighed, "His name is Zetsumei Airomaru… He's not here right now…"

"Do you have an instructor?"

His questions started to get annoying. He's like a clingy father, I swear. "Our Instructor is Kokoka Genai…"

"Ooh, I've heard of him. Kakashi-sensei's really close to him… Genai became a chuunin less than a year after becoming a Genin at the age of ten, if you could believe that. Genai never took the Jonin test though… I wonder why…"

"Are we done here?" I asked him.

"See! That's you_ avoiding_ me! Why!?" he responded, turning very much like a child.

"I'm _not_ avoiding you… geez, you sound like my wife…" I said without much thought.

"That girl is your wife?" Naruto asked, curious.

I looked up at him as if he had grown a second head. I felt Tsuki's grip on my arm tighten and her warmth increase, "Wh-where do you get something like that from!? We're too young!"

"So if you were old enough, you _would_ marry her?"

Tsuki's grip on my arm tightened more as I could feel her face bury into the back of my shirt. I could feel the blush crawl to my face, despite trying to resign it, "Stop j-jumping to conclusions like th-that!"

I could tell he was getting his own little kick out of this.

"C'mon then, newlyweds… I'll treat you both to some ramen…" he said as he turned to lead us to his favorite ramen shop.

I opened my mouth to protest before I felt Tsuki's grip on me let go. She walked to my side with her hands together as she looked at her feet, "Um… Excuse me, Naruto-san…"

He turned around, "Hmm? What is it?"

She looked at him, red with embarrassment and said, "I hardly think that ramen would be a choice food to offer newlyweds."

Naruto looked at her in surprise, but not shock, and then smiled. "Heh… haha… hahahahaha" he began to laugh.

I felt this was going to be a loooooong day…

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"Yeah, but then I chased after him, which means I had to leave Sakura-chan and Chiyo-baa behi-"

Naruto was telling me another one of his _stories_ while Tsuki kept nudging me. I finally turned to her and whispered, "What is it?"

"Does he know?" she asked me.

Naruto loudly slurped his, probably, eighth ramen bowl and turned to Tsuki, "Say, Tsuki, do you know that Hiatari isn't a full Uchiha?"

I smacked my forehead with the palm of my hand.

Naruto looked at me and realized what he said, "I mean _Hyuuga_! Did you know that he's not a full _Hyuuga_?"

I sighed at his absence of mind. "You're lucky she already knows, or Kakashi-sama would have been mad at you…" I told him.

Naruto became filled with awe, "So she knows who your mom and dad are!?"

Tsuki answered him this time, "I don't know Hiatari's parents… but I do know his mom is of the Hyuuga Clan and his dad of the Uchiha Clan…"

"There you are, Naruto." I heard a familiar feminine voice say.

The three of us twisted back to see a woman with pink hair in a red kimono-like wardrobe with basic white lining. She walked into the ramen shop, not wearing her forehead protector. I could see the spiral tattoo on her bare shoulder.

"Wow, Sakura-chan! I haven seen you wear that in _years_!" Naruto exclaimed, getting up to greet her.

She sighed, "Yeah well… My other ones were dirty and I just got back from an assignment." She said with a tired voice. She sat down and looked over to me and smiled, "Hiatari-kun!"

"H-hello Sakura-san!" I said in slight surprise that she remembered me, "I'm surprised you remember me!"

"How could I forget such a cute face?" She said, reaching over to pinch my cheek like the last time I saw her.

"And who's your little girlfriend?" She asked me.

Tsuki grabbed my shoulders and hid behind me in her chair.

Okay… That's getting old…

"I-I'm Byouki" she spoke up, "Byouki Tsuki…"

"Tsuki-chan, huh?" she said with a smile, "How cute!"

"Ahem… Sakura-chan," Naruto said, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, I just thought I should let you know I ran into…" she glanced over to us and back to Naruto, "_them_ again…"

"Where!?" Naruto said.

"There were three of them leaving the village. I could only make out two of them. One was a Kiri-nin, He's the one I fought, and the other was also a Kiri-nin… you remember him… the shark guy…"

Naruto whispered something, as if he just said the name of the shinobi she described.

"Yeah, him… and you know who his _partner_ is…"

"Yeah, I know… _He_ didn't do anything to you?"

"No, I just fought the one Kiri-nin… I haven't identified him but I think I've seen him in the Bingo book. He had the strangest ability… He was able to become water itself. He fended me off as if not to try then told me specifically to tell you that I saw the three of them and then he just left…"

"What?"

"They're still after… You know where I'm going with this, Naruto…"

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes, "Yeah… I'm just glad you're okay, Sakura-chan…"

She smiled at him, "Hey, Its _me_ you're talking to…"

He laughed, "Right, of course!"

"Well its kinda late… You don't think that Hinata is getting worried? Not to mention Tsuki-chan's parents?" Sakura said.

"Oh! Right! Thanks for the food old man, Sakura-chan will pay for me!" He said as he grabbed mine and Tsuki's hands and ran us out of the store.

"What!? NARUTO!!!" I heard the pink haired woman yell out.

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"Its been delivered…"

"Excellent, Ikari… We're one step closer…"

"Excuse me, but I thought It would be interesting to mention that the informant I ran into was the same woman who had a hand in killing the former 'jewel' member of Akatsuki, Sasori…" The man in black robes said.

"Ah, I know who you're talking about…" the other man in similar robes, with the addition of a hood, replied, "How far has she come since then?"

"I'm sorry, I wouldn't know…" Ikari responded.

The hooded masked man sighed, "Very well… You may leave."

"At your command…" Ikari said as he disappeared in a mist.

"Are you sure its wise to let him know that _you're _behind all this?" a woman said as she sleeked out of the shadows.

"Yes, it is of no relevance anyway… Any word on Pein?" the masked one asked her.

"I _still_ haven't found him… Many of the Amegakure deserters are getting restless… they've found out we have the 'zero' ring to which they imply he might be dead… which very well may be true…" she responded.

He sighed again and raised his hand to his face as if her were rubbing his temple, "This is no good… His first defeat and he turns to run away like a coward… I would have thought he was better than that…"

"If Ikari can become the very moisture in the air, wouldn't it be logical for him to search for Pein?" she asked.

"No… Aside from the Uchiha and his partner, the rest of Akatsuki must remain thinking that he is the Leader… I think it was a good decision to give him the 'zero' ring…"

"Well then, shall I continue my search?"

"You may, after the ritual, Konan." The man said as her body seemed to scatter right on the spot.

He turned around and took off his orange mask and rubbed his temple. "Things are falling apart so quickly… ever since _he_ beat Pein and found out the one way to stop us…"

The light glimmered ever so slightly, enough to show the man's enraged Sharingan Eye.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

"So, Itachi-san… any news on Orochimaru?" the blue skinned man asked his partner.

Itachi closed his eyes as if in thought, "It seems that he's alive at the moment…"

"And how's your brother…?"

Itachi twitched slightly to show his annoyance, "Sasuke is probably dead…for now…"

"Are you sure?" Kisame asked him.

Itachi opened his eyes and looked ahead, "Judging by their little 'schedule', then yes… Running into Sasuke right now shall prove of no consequence to us… unless those companions of his are still around.

"Ah, those guys… I still wanna repay that kid for cutting me like that…" Kisame said, tightening his grip on his prized sword, Samehada.

"What are you two talking about over there, quiet down, damnit!" a rude voice yelled out.

"Ah, they're just trying the pass the time, y'know… theres no need to explode at them…" a different, laid back voice responded.

"Enough talking, all of you." Ikari's voice rang out.

"'Tch… about time…" a feminine voice spoke out.

"Hold your tongue, Seiyaru. That's our leader you're talking about…" a different, reasoning voice called out.

"You're one to talk, Ryuuku-teme" the rude voice said.

"All your chattering is pointless." A warped voice called out to the people in the room.

"Its as Zetsu-san said, stop talking and lets just get this over with… I'm tired of holding this damn snake down!" a ninth voice, feminine, called out.

"Once Konan gets here, we can beg-" Ikari was cut off by papers fluttering together to form a blue-haired woman.

"There we go! Lets get this done!" the other feminine voice called out.

"Hyper as always, Akira…"

"I think its time for Leader to start, so please quiet down everyone." Itachi said, showing little annoyance in his voice.

"Thank you, Itachi…" Ikari said.

Ikari went through a few hand seals and palmed the floor as a large magnificent statue rose from the round. It had nine eyes, seven of which were open.

"Ahh, man this thing looks better now that its new…" the laid back voice said.

The strange stature had eccentric wings coming from its back and had a primary spike on the top of its head as well as having chained up arms out in front of it and its mouth was open to show a strange purple glow coming from within.

The ten people jumped onto each one of the fingers and held a seal together.

"Sure makes things _much_ faster than before, doesn't it, Raito?" Kisame said.

"Yeah, whatever…" the rude voice called out.

"Bro, he didn't ask you, Shinryuu" Raito said.

"Whatever! Lets just seal up the Hachibi no Netami and lets get outta here!" Akira said.

The statue then shot out ten blue chakra dragons at the subdued and, rather large, eight tailed snake. The dragons encircled and entwined the snake as a mysterious eleventh figure, unnoticed by the other ten, jumped onto the primary spike atop of the head of the statue. The statue began to roar as an eleventh, purple, chakra dragon shot out and engulfed the snake as the snake's body began to disappear in a matter of minutes.

Once the snake disappeared, the statue's eighth eye began to open up. The eleventh person left the scene and the other ten jumped off the fingers of the statue as it returned to the ground below.

Ikari sighed and stood straight up, "The Eight-Tailed Snake has been sealed… Everyone, go to your assignments. We have but one more target left; The Kyuubi no Yoko…"

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

_**A/N: **Ooo... Lookie what I did! That means Naruto is last! But what happened to Pain (or Pein, however you wanna spell it)!? We'll I've already written the situation where is Rennegan fails him! But you'll have to wait for that one! Heehee. Oh, and I'm happy to say I've completed the entire first arc and will release it all by the end of this (october) month. After which, I will take a long break, steadily write the second arc, and then release that no sooner than New Years Day. For now, I'm going to work on Nightmare Requiem.  
_


	9. Arc One: Chapter 8

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter Eight**__: Complications_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 1,336_

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**__ 26,146_**\**_**Reviews:** 8_**\**_**Favorited:**_7**\**_**Alerted: **6  
_

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I wish it were mine… TOBI OBITO FTW! v.v

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

"Eheheheheh, sorry for bringing him by this late."

"I-I was not aware that h-he was with you, Naruto-kun."

I feel myself die a little inside whenever I watch this… okay not really.

Naruto moved his hands out as if he were carrying something big, "Yeah but I ran into him and if it weren't for me, he's probably have gotten here much sooner, Hinata."

"That's o-okay, Naruto-kun." my mom said silently.

Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head, grinning, "Sorry about that."

"W-well its not that l-late." my mom said.

I don't know why, but I got a bright idea.

"Yeah, its not that late all! Can't Naruto come inside with us?" I spoke up.

My mother's expression changed. Naruto's smile disappeared. I looked at the two.

"No, Hiatari-kun. Naruto-kun can't come into the complex with us…" my mother said.

Before I was given the chance to protest, Naruto cut me off, "Yeah, she's right, besides, I've got things to do… Sorry about that, Hiatari…"

"O-oh." I said, glancing at them. I noticed that they now avoided eachother's gaze.

"Hiatari-kun, we should go inside." she said.

"Yeah… okay mom…" I said

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

"So… Tell me about your previous leader…" the cloud clad man in a chair limped over with a bored expression said to two of his subordinates.

The rude one, now known as Shinryuu looked over at his leader, Ikari. He scoffed. The one next to him, however, looked at Ikari and answered, "He was strange… the people of his deserter village all regarded him as a god, although, thanks to your old friend, we now know that's not true…"

Shinryuu scoffed once again, "You should have killed the bastard when you had the chance. Those strange psycho techniques of his don't affect the heavily focused… and you're not our damn leader for nothing, right?"

Ikari let out a laugh, "No, his mental techniques can still get to me… but now he's resorted to small guerrilla tactics. He can do nothing to stop Akatsuki… not now, anyway."

Ryuuku looked at Ikari, "I've been meaning to ask… what sort of jutsus _does_ Kenshi use?" Shinryuu turned to Ikari, now interested.

Ikari smiled, "That bastard can invade your head and can completely change you. That's how he beat P- your last leader… Kenshi didn't make him go insane. Kenshi didn't kill him, hell, he didn't even hurt him…"

Shinryuu spoke up, "So what _did_ he do…"

This time, Ikari's twisted smile turned to a grin, "He broke him, destroyed his entire personality and made a coward and a fool out of him; humiliation by just looking at you… the best technique in the world…"

Ryuuku seemed shocked, "He broke him just with a gaze!? What did he do? Use Itachi's eyes?"

Ikari now laughed, "No… Kenshi's eyes are much worse than the Sharingan in _all_ respects… While the Sharingan _can_ be used by normal shinobi, Kenshi's eyes cannot. It takes a very intelligent person to use it…"

Ryuuku spoke up again, "So, in other words, you and Itachi can use it… _if_ you can get it…"

"No," Ikari said, cutting down Ryuuku's theory, "we can't… While yes, we are geniuses, its still not enough. To use _those _eyes, you have to be _extremely smart_. There's such a thing as a genius, and then a super genius, in this world… and to use _those _eyes, you have to be able to put _both combined_ to shame…"

Shinryuu let out a laugh, "Are you saying this guy is an encyclopedia of knowledge and reasoning?"

Ikari laughed again, "That's _exactly_ what I'm saying. He can cut down your fighting style, dissect all its part, find a weakness, and exploit it, just from seeing you fight once for about 5 minutes… Kenshi is deadly, and his Kekkei Genkai is deadlier. In all respects to Kenshi… I think he'd still be smart enough to use those eyes of his even _without_ the blasted mental bonus his Seishin Omoi gives him…"

Ryuuku sighed, "Its almost insane… I guess now I know how you, him, and your other partner were able to kill the Mizukage in a matter of seconds."

Ikari smiled, "Thanks for that, but its time now," he looked at the two, "who's gunna let me ride their backs?"

Ryuuku's hand shot up, followed by Shinryuu's.

"Not it!" Ryuuku said quickly.

"Not it! SHIT!" Shinryuu said just after him.

Ikari chuckled, "Well Shinryuu, I'll enjoy the flight…"

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

I awoke to the chirping of the birds outside.

I rose from my bed and sighed.

I readied myself, took a bath, changed, and left for the academy.

I didn't want to do anything today…

Something bothered me about yesterday…

I couldn't let it go…

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

"What's wrong with you? You seem dead."

I sighed and looked at Airomaru, "I don't know… Today must be one of those 'blah' days for me, I suppose."

He chuckled, "I guess we all get that sooner or later," he said, taking his seat next to me.

"Where's your girlfriend?" he asked.

"I don't know…" I said, responding without thinking.

He chuckled again, "Oh well. Ready for our spar today?"

"Nope."

"Damn," he said, "I was hoping I'd get to punch you around some more."

"Sucks to be you."

"Not really."

"Oh well."

Airomaru didn't respond this time. He only looked at me. I must have guessed something was wrong…

He was probably right…

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Class was uneventful, I think I fell asleep for once. I ended up sparing with Airomaru anyway, I lost. I found out Tsuki was sick, and that she couldn't make it to class today, but she would return tomorrow.

I hated that day. I felt a strange apprehension… as if someone or something close to me was slowly fading…

I hated that day.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Meanwhile, in an underground lair that had become very decrepit, a light emanated and a door opened.

"Huh? Why are you here?" a female voice said to the man who walked into the room.

"Heh, I bet he missed you!" a cocky voice taunted her.

A smash was heard as he said, "Ow!"

The third person in the room looked at him, and with a big voice he said, "Are you okay?"

The man walked into the room and said, "Get it ready… its time…"

The three in the room scurried off into corners, pressing buttons on the computers.

"Fluids filling." The cocky voice said.

"Cooling sequence started." The big one said.

"Hatch opening… now" the woman said.

The Floor opened up in a small circular fashion with another platform under it. The man stepped on top of it.

"You know what to do when-"

"Hey! We've been doing this for years now… we _know _how to take care of you, bastard…" the cocky voice said.

The man just gave a 'hmph' and looked at the woman, his eyes blazing red. "Lower me in…" he said with a weak voice.

"Of course" she said.

The platform he stood on lowered and he became encumbered in a strange, dark blue, glowing, liquid. The floor closed above him and the entire tube he was in rose up so as to bring him slightly above eye level again.

The man, now illuminated by light, must have been in his early to mid 20's. He wore a tan robe which was open. His black-bluish hair, floating in the waters. Most noticeably, he wore a white and red crest of a traditional fan on his back.

His closed eyes started to tremble. The woman walked to the tube and looked at the man.

His eyes shot open. They were yellow and had the silted pupil much like cats have.

"Haaaah!" He hissed as he placed his hands on the tube as if trying to get out.

She recoiled slightly.

The man looked at her and smiled, letting out a long tongue that reached past his neck, "Let me out, yeah?"

The cocky person stood at the tube and looked at him then smiled.

"Not a chance…

Orochimaru…"

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

_**A/N: **Alright, I have writers block... But thats for the 2nd arc... I've already finished up this arc, so thats no problem... The whole arc should be released by half of November (in time for my birthday! XDD) so I guess thats an up... as for my bleach story, as usual, that one will update every month. I will remain constant with those updates. Atleast until Next Year _


	10. Arc One: Chapter 9

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Arc One, Chapter Nine**__: The Story_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 2,006_

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**__ 28,152_**\\**_**Reviews:**8_**\\**_**Favorited:**6_**\\**_**Alerted:**6_

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

_**Disclaimer**_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. He's been redeeming himself lately…GO KISHI!

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

I woke up that morning with the feeling slightly alleviated. That strange feeling still remained, but it was now insignificant to the point I could ignore it.

But here I am now, leaving for the Academy.

I feel as though the days are starting to repeat themselves.

This must be boredom…

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Iruka was talking about how to channel chakra.

I didn't pay attention…

Tsuki and I were, to my dismay in saying so, flirting the whole day. As such, she didn't pay attention either.

Airomaru was distracted by our commotion, and didn't pay attention either. He wasn't angry though, instead thanking us for giving him something to watch so he doesn't fall asleep in class.

Kakashi said he needed to tell us something important, so once school was over we headed in the direction of the Hokage Tower.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

"Hey, Hiatari!"

I turned to see Naruto run up to me, in his usual happy demeanor.

"Hi, Naruto-niichan!" I responded.

"Hello Naruto-san!" Tsuki said to him.

"Hey Naruto." Airomaru said.

"Where are you guys headed?" he asked us.

"Hokage Tower," Airomaru spoke up, "Kakashi-san said he wanted to tell us something important."

"Oh, well we can just wait for him at the tower together then…" Naruto said.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Oh, Well Kakashi-sensei wasn't there just a few moments ago… but If he said he wanted you to meet him in a little bit, chances are he'll be there in a few hours."

"Ugh, my parents want me home soon…" Tsuki said in disappointment.

"I have to go with my family to wish my brother a farewell or something, not sure…" Airomaru explained.

I thought about it for a split second, "Hey guys," I said, "you can go on home, I'll just tell you what Kakashi-sama wanted to say next time I see you."

"Would you? Really" Tsuki said. I smiled at her, "Of course!"

"Heh, Thanks then, Hiatari." Airomaru said, turning to leave.

"Thank you, Hiatari!" Tsuki said, and then she kissed me on the cheek. I just stood there as she turned and ran off in the direction of her house.

Naruto leaned in towards me and cooed, "Awww, That's cute…"

I turned to see his giant grinning smile.

"Can we change the subject, please!?" I nearly yelled at him. I could feel the warm red menace creep onto my face.

"Wanna hear a story…?" he asked.

"Yeah, Why don't you tell me about the last fight of this sensei of yours…" I said, desperately looking for a topic.

"Ero-sennin…" Naruto said, looking down.

"Oh, that's okay, I don't want to bring-" I started to say.

"No," he cut me off, "if you wanna hear it, I'll tell you…"

"Would you?"

"Sure…"

_**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**_

"_Ero-Sennin!"_

"_No, Naruto… This is my fight… I've run away once before, I won't run again…"_

_Jiraiya pushed Naruto out of the chakra seal wall which closed up immediately. Naruto bashed his fists against the chakra wall, trying to get in. It was clear to Jiraiya, however, that Naruto would not break the seal._

"_So, Nagato… or should I say Pain…? Do you plan to finish me here and now?"_

"_You tell me, Jiraiya-_sensei_…" A man with black hair draped over his eyes said._

"_This is less about Naruto and his power and more about me and you, isn't it?" Jiraiya said._

"_Rest assured, after you're out of my way, the Final Jinchuuriki will be mine."_

"_Not if I have anything to say about it."_

"_You have little to say."_

_Jiraiya ran at the man and threw several shuriken at him. He ducked under them._

_Jiraiya jumped directly at him and threw a punch at his face, which hit him._

_He turned, hair out of his face, and smiled, "That barely even hurt, Jiraiya-sensei…"_

_Jiraiya jumped back. He quickly noticed a surge of water heading for him and switched places with a log to evade the water blast._

"_Did you honestly think I'd fight alone, Jiraiya-sensei?" Pain said._

"_No, but did you honestly think I wouldn't anticipate that?" Jiraiya responded._

_Pain then noticed it and jumped above a fireball that crashed into the ground he stood on._

"_I see," Pain said, "so you brought someone as well… that was… unexpected."_

"_Does it matter? We can still take him, can't we?" A man said as he appeared in a haze of foggy mist._

"_Ikari," another voice said, one that sounded slightly metallic, "I didn't think I'd see _you of all people_ here… "_

"_Hmm?" Jiraiya looked over at his companion, a cloaked man, "You know him, Kenshi?"_

"_He's… an old acquaintance…"_

"_You and I have _nothing_in common anymore, traitor." Ikari said._

"_Harsh words from the man who left his village and killed his former leader…"_

"_You had as much to do with the Mizukage's death as I did…"_

"_I grow tired of this." Pain said as he threw a kunai at Kenshi with extreme speed._

_Kenshi received the kunai as it entered into his cloak hood. A 'clang' was heard as he turned his head, kunai flying out, and blood came out from his hood._

_Kenshi laughed, the metallic quality in his voice now gone. Reaching into his hood he pulled out a half-face mask made of metal that seemed to have may electrical workings within it. He dropped it to the floor and looked up at Pain, taking off his hood, "Cheap shot, Akatsuki scum…"_

_Kenshi had black-blue hair that reached a little past his face that was held back with a band. He had a young face and had regular brown eyes._

_He smiled and rushed through a few seals, "__Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!__" he yelled as he blew a giant fireball out of his mouth headed for Pain._

_Pain smiled and blew a ginat hole in the fireball, expecting the rest to completely miss him. Unfortunately, Kenshi ran with the fireball and was now in Pain's face. Pain stared into his eyes. That's when it happened._

_Kenshi's eyes changed color. The iris became dark Blue and the pupil disappeared, the sclera turning darker._

_Pain widened his eyes, "You're… _Seishin!_"_

_Kenshi smiled, "Your Ren'negan's got _nothing_ on my Haiigan!"_

_Pain then clutched his head and began to scream._

_Ikari and Jiraiya looked over to Pain after fighting on their own. Pain began to thrash about as Kenshi just looked at him. Ikari frowned, "Shit… This is bad!"_

_The barrier dissipated and Ikari ran off. Jiraiya tried to chase him but then thought about Pain._

_Jiraiya ran to him, "Kenshi! What did you do?"_

"_I'm breaking his spirit, right now as we speak…" he answered._

_Pain thrashed about more, screaming exceptionally loudly._

"_You're hurting him!"_

"_Only mentally…"_

"_He'll die!"_

"_If he's weak willed…_

"_You have to stop!"_

"_No…"_

_Jiraiya grabbed him and punched him. Kenshi gritted his teeth, "Damn it! I lost my connection!"_

_Pain stopped screaming and began to run._

_Jiraiya got ready to chasse him but Kenshi grabbed onto his arm, "Don't bother… He's probably contemplating his decisions and will probably go into solitude…"_

_Jiraiya sighed, "Atleast we're out of the bubb- Naruto!"_

_Jiraiya turned around sharply and felt a pain in his chest._

"_Jiraiya!" Kenshi yelled._

_Jiraiya looked down and saw an armored arm with a glowing electric palm. He heard the stuck up voice that could only belong to one person say "Chidori" but the question in Jiraiya's head was _Why…

"_Why… Sasuke…" Jiraiya said, looking at the Uchiha heir, holding onto his arm._

"_My, my, my… It seems you have me _mistaken for someone else… old friend…" _Sasuke said, his voice changing slowly._

_That's when Jiraiya realized it, "No…! O-Orochimaru!"_

_Sasuke then smiled, "_Such a shame… It was expected of you to die in battle… but here I basically assassinated you… Kukuku… You lose, Jiraiya…"

"_Wh-what did you do to… Naru-to…?" Jiraiya asked, struggling to ignore the pain._

"The Kyuubi Brat is just outside the field of the former bubble… I came here hoping to disrupt Akatsuki, but when I saw that boy screaming_"Ero-sennin!"_ I knew I had stumbled upon a chance I could not pass up… After knocking him out, it was simply a matter of _waiting_ for the bubble to dissipate…"

"_Orochi-chimaru! You… bastard…!" Jiraiya said._

_Sasuke, his eyes glaring at Jiraiya with the Sharingan, said "_While you have some time, why don't you say the words of a true martyr?"

"_You wont live to regret this…" Jiraiya said, smiling. He closed his eyes._

_That's when Kenshi spoke up, "Hey!"_

_Sasuke looked at him, "_AUGH! NO!"

_Sasuke quickly turned away and dropped Jiraiya to the floor._

_Kenshi frowned, "Damn… not enough chakra…"_

_Sasuke began to waiver and fell to his knees, "_What did _you do _to me, you _imbecile!?" Sasuke struggled to stay up as his voice wavered from soft and slithery to angry and rough._

"_I may not have been able to kill you, but just looking at you I can tell that you're possessing that body. The spirit of the original owner was broken some time ago by the other Uchiha, but now I've weakened your spirit as well… Now you'll have to fight the Uchiha boy for his body until the day you two die…" Kenshi said, breathing heavily._

"_I will _not forget this, _you fool!" Sasuke yelled once more before he got up and began to run at civilian speed, stumbling with each step._

_Kenshi got up and sighed, looking at Jiraiya, "Still alive…?"_

_He got no response._

_Kenshi went through a few seals and opened Jiraiya's eyes._

_Kenshi blanked out for a second and then sighed, letting Jiraiya's eyelids slide back down. "Damn… Why were you so careless… I know we had come here already exhausted from a different fight, but still…"_

_Kenshi heard a groan and turned. He saw Naruto struggling to stand. Kenshi quickly picked up his metal mask and put it back on, _Please work…

"_Huh… Ero-sennin!" Naruto looked up and saw Jiraiya, with Kenshi, once again cloaked, standing over him. "Who are you!? What did you do to him!?"_

"_Naruto," Kenshi said, the metallic sound now returned to his voice, "make sure Jiraiya gets a proper burial… And I wouldn't worry about Akatsuki for a while…"_

_Naruto, confused, tried to protest before he was cut off._

"_I will try to contact you the need arises…" Kenshi said, "but for now, make sure Jiraiya is taken care of… and Good Luck…" Kenshi jumped off into the horizon._

_With instinct, Naruto ran to Jiraiya's body, "Ero-sennin! Wake up! This isn't funny, Ero-sennin… Wake up! Ero-sennin! Wake Up! JIRAIYA!"_

_**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**_

"And that's how it happened…" Naruto said, smiling solemnly.

"So… My dad… Orochimaru, I mean… killed Jiraiya?" I asked.

"Yeah…" he answered, clenching his fist.

That's when the door opened and Kakashi stepped in, "Hi! You see some rouge shinobi were-" He stopped talking when he noticed Naruto's expression.

"Hiatari, could you leave the office for a second…" he asked.

I only nodded and walked out of the door. Kakashi closed the door behind me.

I didn't wait long before Naruto opened the door and walked out, saying a quick goodbye to me.

I walked into the room. Kakashi stood there, looking out the window. He sighed, "Jiraiya-sama was a great man indeed… He shouldn't have died, least of all like that… but that's not what we're here to discuss." Kakashi turned around and sighed, "From here on out, I will be your tutor. We're going to kick start your shinobi training and prepare you to become a genin."

I looked up at him as he continued, "It will be tough for the three of you, but it will all be worth it in the end. You will get little rest and you'll be highly disciplined, and you'll suffer injury and work through it so you can continue to work. This is a lot to ask of you, but the question is; are you ready?"

I couldn't help but smile, "Yeah!"

Kakashi smiled, "Good… You'll become a genin in _no time._"

I could already imagine the results.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

_**First Arc:**__ Concluded_

_**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**_

**Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu:**_Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu_

**Ren'negan:**_Metempsychosis Eye_

**Haiigan:**_Great Gray Eye; otherwise Known as Raikou no Kyoumaku (Sclera of Invasion)_

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

_**A/N: **Mega Super Destructo Appology Double Release no Jutsu!  
_


	11. End Arc One

_**Sanctuary Within**_

_**Intermission, Arcs One and Two**__: Head in the Clouds_

_**Chapter Length: **__ 650 (+337 Omake)_

_**Story Statistics  
Story Length:**_28,803**\\**_**Reviews:**_8**\\**_**Favorited:**_6**\\**_**Alerted:**6_

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Sweet, First Arc Done…

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

"All the preparations will take… longer… than expect, master," cloud-clad Ikari said to the Orange Masked man sitting his dark chair, "I apologize if this is an inconvenience…"

Uchiha Tobi, as he liked to be called, slumped in his chair and looked at his, if could be called so, puppet. He sighed, "How long…"

"A few years, at the least 52 months…" Ikari said, knowing this would displease Tobi.

Tobi sighed again, "Fine," he said, rather annoyed, "just get the hell out and get it done…"

"Of course…" Ikari said as he held a hand in front of him and turned into a white mist that dispersed itself into the air.

"What is it, Konan?" Tobi said, not shifting his lazy, slumped, position.

Said woman fluttered together in a mass of papers and looked up at Tobi, "I found Pein…"

Tobi sat up-right, "Have you now? … And?"

"I've sent two Akatsuki members to try and… retrieve him…"

"Which two?"

"The Dragon Twins…"

Tobi only chuckled, "Pein left in _that_ body, so I'm sure those two will be able to handle him…"

"I've told them to kill Pein if necessary…"

"Hmm, well its of no consequence, _now,_ anyway."

"What now, sir…?"

Tobi slumped in his chair again, "I have given Ikari a more restricting assignment. This means that I must have a replacement for his 'off task' duties…"

"You want me to kill Kenshi?"

"No… just find him, track him, and document his actions…"

"I will go" Konan said as she turned into paper once more and fluttered out of the room.

Tobi only sat in his dark room on the dark chair and thought to himself,_Shinryuu and Ryuuku… will you kill Pein…? Or will Pein kill you two?_

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

"So,_this_ is the cave Konan was talking about…" Ryuuku said, his black wings folding back into the Akatsuki clouded cloak.

A grotesque dragon like creature walked next to Ryuuku and said, "I suppose it is… I smell energy within the cave… It certainly doesn't smell very human, but _something_ is in there…"

Ryuuku sighed, "_Energy_… Pshh… I will never understand your kind, Shinryuu.

The dragon began to hideously and painfully crack its bones and twist its flesh. Slowly, but surely, the dragon dawned the human form of Shinryuu, who was handed an Akatsuki cloak by Ryuuku to put on. Shinryuu, after dressing, said "Be thankful you will never have to, worm…"

"Lets just do this… alright?" Ryuuku said, his brown eyes glowing purple.

"Fine, just make it quick…"

"Oh," Ryuuku said with a smile, "I will… Fuuton! Kuchikuyokoana no Jutsu!"

Suddenly, a rather sharp gust of wind flew in the area and destroyed the rock wall in front of them. The wind, now visibly cutting the stone and granite, rushed into the cave and damaged most of whatever was inside.

A sudden calm came about after the commotion was over. Ryuuku's eyes ceased glowing.

Shinryuu laughed, "I still smell the en- … _Chakra_… inside the cave… It seems like you missed, worm…"

Ryuuku clicked his tongue, "Damn… Alright then, Demon kid, _you_ go…"

Shinryuu chucked and got on all fours, "_Don't Mind If I Do!"_ He charged in much like a rabid beast into the cave, turning sharply.

Ryuuku smiled, "Fool's gunna get himself killed one of these days…" and walked into the cave slowly, following his bestial partner.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**CRASH!**

**SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!**

_Someone is here…_

_For me…_

_They wish to fight me…_

_They… can best me…_

_I will not…!_

_I CANNOT!_

_I REFUSE TO LOSE AGAIN!!_

The ruined shadow figure looked at the exit-path to the cave, hearing a clatter of what seemed like four sets of legs running ever closer.

The shadow figure opened his perplexing eyes and only stared forward, knowing that two people headed for his direction.

_I WILL DESTROY THEM!_

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Tobi sighed, slumping in his chair again.

_The black wind screeches…_

_Someone will die…_

_**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

"Holy Crap… Are we seriously moving into the second arc!?" Hiatari said.

Naruto looked at him, "Yeah… why's that surprising…?"

"Naruto-neechan! Our Author is a lazy fat ass slob! I'm surprised he got this far!"

Tsuki bonked him over the head, "Don't say bad things about the author!"

"But why not!?"

"Because," Tsuki explained to Hiatari, "He's gunna give you all new abilities and make our team oh-so much greater than before! We'll actually be genin by the time we come back!"

Hiatari looked at her as if she had grown a second head, "How in the seven hells do _you_know that!?"

"I'm Special!" She said.

"Got that right…" Hiatari said, whispering.

"I heard that!" She screamed at him, hitting him over the head again.

"Wow… you guys are like an old married couple…" Naruto said.

"Seriously! Enough with the 'relationship' jokes! They're getting old!" Hiatari yelled.

"Really! This is almost borderline harassment!" Tsuki yelled as well.

Naruto turned and whispered to himself, "And they _don't deny it…_ Interesting…"

"So," Hiatari said, "what _else_will I get in the second arc?"

"Can't tell you," Tsuki said.

"Why not!?"

"Because… I said so…"

"Why!?"

"Because! You get so much, but I don't get that much!"

"What do you get?" Hiatari asked.

Tsuki sighed, "I dunno… I think I get arm bracers… not that good!" She hmph'd in anger, "atleast my look gets updated…"

"It does? Does that mean I can stop wearing these Neji-esque robes? Or are you the only one to get a wardrobe change 'cause you're a girl…?"

"Iiiiii'll pretend I didn't hear that…"

Hiatari stood up and put his arm around her shoulder. Naruto came back and put his arm around Hiatari's shoulder as well. Kakashi poofed out behind them, smiling, and draped his arms on Hiatari's shoulders.

Hiatari spoke up, smiling, "We hope you enjoy the second arc! It will move faster, answer questions, and have more action in it! Promise!"

The four of them all grinned, "Until the next time we meet!"

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

**Fuuton: Kuchikuyokoana no Jutsu: **_Wind Release: Destruction Tunnel Technique_

_**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

_**A/N: **Right... so here's a special Christmas Double Release... and... My bad?  
_


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